By Kevin Scott
GREAT FALLS, Mont., December 26, 2014 — Great Falls Americans Junior A forward Brendan Jester has been nominated as one of 44 young men from the state of Alaska for admissions to one of the United States service academies for 2015 and the graduating class of 2019.
The Anchorage, Alaska native was nominated by United States Senator Mark Begich recently to attend the United States Air Force Academy located in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Senators are allowed to nominate up to ten individuals who would like to pursue one of the allocated appointments in the service academies which include the U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point, New York). U.S. Military Academy (West Point, New York) and the US Naval Academy (Annapolis, Maryland).
During the process of getting selected, he had to go through lots of testing including writing essays, completing questionnaires, and an interview process. The 2014 graduate of South Anchorage High School in Alaska hopes to know around February 2015 if he gets selected into the Academy.
Jester hopes to pursue playing hockey for the Air Force Academy Falcons and plans to major in Law and minor in Political Science.
Each academy’s admissions office determines the final nominations based on academic and physical qualifications and available space.
The 5’11” forward is now playing for the Great Falls Americans after spending some time playing for the Glacier Nationals during his first season in the 2014-15 North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL). He has scored two goals and picked up seven assists while playing for these teams this season. The future Air Force Academy hopeful contributed to the success of the Americans in his 13 appearances for the Great Falls squad as his team has built a 24-3 overall record and currently sits on top of the Frontier Division of the NA3HL.
“I really have enjoyed playing for coach (Jeff) Heimel and the Great Falls Americans this season,” said Jester referring to the success of the Americans on the ice. “We are playing well and I could not ask for more.”
The junior hockey standout mentioned that Heimel has “taught him to be an unselfish player and the value of hard work that he instills in practice on a daily basis.”
“Brendan is exactly the type of player that we look for in our program,” said Heimel. He has a great work ethic both on and off the ice and his character and integrity shine through on a regular basis. He doesn’t complain; he just shows up every day and does what we ask him to do as a coach, you couldn’t ask for anything more in a player.”
Some of his future goals include getting an opportunity to play in the North Americans Hockey League (NAHL) or play Division I hockey at the Air Force Academy within the next year. In the long-term, he would like to be a politician.
He is the son of Bill and Lange Jester.
Click here to view Brendan’s season statistics in the NA3HL.
Additional Media Coverage: December 26, 2014: Great Falls Tribune: Americans’ Jester nominated to AFA