Therianos ships off to USNA prep school

Recently graduated Churchill County High School senior Michelle Therianos is Navy bond.

Therianos accepted an offer to attend the United States Naval Academy’s prep school at Newport, R.I., and upon successful completion, she will enroll as a midshipmen.

A co-valedictorian who successfully completed the Honors School curriculum and finished in the top five of her class, Theriansos received several offers to attend a military academy, but she chose the Navy, which she said, was a dream come true.

Since she first a Navy Junior ROTC class in seventh grade, Therianos set her course toward the Navy.

“She knew what she wanted to do,” said retired Navy Command Master Chief Donn Sheldon, who retired this spring as a NJROTC instructor at CCHS. “In the seventh grade, she came to me and wanted to go to the Naval Academy. She was the perfect one to groom.”

Sheldon said he wasn’t surprised with her desire to become a midshipman.

“She has leadership,” he said. “She was always on the team, always there, always doing community service.”

Although Therianos must wait a year before actually enrolling in the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., Sheldon said the prep school will help her immensely.

Therianos said she is proud to be the first in her family to join the military. While Therianos is a first-generation American, her mother was born in South Korea and her father is Greek.

Once she begins her studies in August, Therianos said she would eventually like to major in biochemistry or biology and eventually become a flight surgeon.

Although Sheldon and Therianos are both leaving the CCHS program, he Fallon student said she is grateful for Sheldon’s guidance.

“He opened up the door and directed me into that direction,” she said of the academy.