After graduating from high school, Carlos Vega, a senior at El Capitan High, and Carlos Vega, a senior, did not discover himself going to college.
The defense seemed like a natural match for his next step when considering his choices. And he made a decision to join the Army.
” College to me wasn’t always calling my name,” Vega said. I often wanted to serve or enlist in the military, according to me. I want to travel the world, discover new things, and experience new things.
Vega was one of the 59 seniors who recently attended the state’s next Salute to Service Luncheon on Tuesday at , Merced High School.
More than two million Americans were enlisting in the Armed Forces as of first 2024. About 70, 000 people enlist in the military each year, according to Data Quality Campaign, and about third of those are new high school graduates.
According to Stars and Stripes, the Army has seen a drop in recruits entering the senior year of high school, dropping from 20.5 % in 2020 to 13.1 % in 2024. The recruits for the Navy and the United States have decreased from 30 % of graduates in 2020 to 21 % in 2024. Only a small drop in the same time frame, from 46 % to 40 %, has been observed in the Marines .
There are many factors graduates choose to enlist in the military, according to Regina Cherf, a counselor and retired Air Force and lieutenant captain at Merced High School.
Some individuals want to learn skills and apply those skills when they leave the military to join specific forces, law enforcement, medicine, or pursue an investigation career, she said. Some people only want to travel or fight, but I’d like to believe that many of them feel called to the service and have a greater purpose. They want to go and fight for our nation. And I believe there have been some who perhaps want to run away and find themselves over the years.
Persons who serve in the military experience a short- and long-term increase in their revenue, according to a study by RAND Corporation, R . Serving in the military may even lead to a variety of career options for historically underserved groups.
Elderly from the Merced Union High School District  and the , Marines , pos for pictures during the state’s next Salute to Service Luncheon on May 13, 2025, at , Merced High School. Shawn Jansen, [email protected ]
” Our career as a city is to provide all the lines,” said MUHSD Superintendent , Alan Peterson, “whether it’s a student going to a four-year school or a career technical education road.” ” Our region has a long history of military service, and this is our way of honoring both the past and the present,” he said. Schools and communities should be grateful and truly honoring our students who will offer our great country.
The Merced Union High School District celebrated 59 seniors who enlisted in the military on Tuesday, May 13, 2025 at , Merced High School, with its next Salute to Service Luncheon. Shawn Jansen, [email protected ]
Young people who may want to pay for their education through GI Bills while gaining job education, skills, and other options offered by the army can opt into the military.
Vega, who earned a 3.2 % GPA in high school, expressed his excitement for his upcoming assignment in the Army.
” I’m planning to get experience in the field and then apply that to the outside world as a cop or anything in law protection,” he said.
Gabriel Cisneros, 18, is ready to leave the classroom and rehabilitate like his relatives who served in the Air Force, Marines, and the Atwater High School, according to Vega.
El Capitan High School senior Carlos Vega makes his way to the stage during the Salute to Service Luncheon held on May 13, 2025 at Merced High School, at 10:00 AM. Shawn Jansen, [email protected ]
Cisneros intends to work in the army, specific security forces, or combat support.
” I want to be effective, and I’ve wanted to be in the military since I was a young child,” Cisneros said.
He claimed that he is prepared for the issue.
Ciseneros said,” I’m doing it for my land, and I feel proud of it.” ” I want to drive myself.”
The annual Salute to Service Luncheon, according to Peterson, received a positive response next month.
We do a lot of things, according to Peterson, including creating novel experiences and introducing new issues that some people don’t. That was the one occasion that received the most remarks, and people genuinely went out of their way to say thank you.
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