Benjamin Iven, a junior at C.W. Baker High School in Baldwinsville, was among 1,000 attendees at West Point’s prestigious Summer Leaders Experience (SLE) in June.

More than 5,000 juniors nationwide applied to SLE, which offers outstanding high school juniors the opportunity to experience life at West Point. SLE attendees lived in the cadet barracks (dormitories), ate in the Cadet Mess, and participated in academic, leadership, athletic, and military workshops. The one-week seminar is designed to help juniors with their college-selection process, while giving them an idea of the importance of leadership and sound decision-making in their education, careers, and lives in general.

All SLE attendees participated in a virtual-reality war simulation, and military and physical fitness training. Iven also participated in workshops on leadership ethics, engineering and mathematics.

The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year, co-educational, federally funded undergraduate college located 50 miles north of New York City. West Point was founded in 1802 as America’s first college of engineering. Since then, West Point has grown in size and stature, but remains committed to the task of producing commissioned leaders of character for America’s Army. For more information about West Point, go to usma.edu/admissions.