Figuring out what to do with your life can be a tough decision for most students. For senior Alex Cook, this was no exception. 

A few students know what they want to do from a young age, some don’t know until they are about to graduate. It took a lot of serious thinking for Cook to decide that he wanted to go into the Marines. “At the beginning of junior year, I came to the realization that the people I respected most were in the military,” said Cook, “specifically, the Marines.”

Now this may seem like a simple decision, but for anyone that has ever been around the military, you know this is a serious commitment. Not only do you have to be mentally prepared to join the Marine Corps, but it is physically demanding. “When I realized my goal of what I wanted to do, I just started working towards it,” said Cook.

In order to prepare for the military, Cook joined cross country and track. Another way he has prepared for the Marines was by entering the poolee program. The poolee program is a way to help people who want to become Marines prepare for boot camp. The program has what they call “poolee functions.” According to him, The functions are pretty intense physically“You usually start off with an initial strength test,” said Cook. “You do a max set of pull-ups, a timed 1.5 mile run, you then count as many crunches you can do in two minutes.”

His bulldog time teacher Lori Larson observed a significant growth in him from sophomore year until more recently. “I’ve just noticed a huge change in him,” said Larson “You can tell he has more confidence and that he is just into more things now.” Cook sees it too, “The biggest difference has definitely been my work ethic,” he said.

Cook has worked hard to pursue his goal of being in the Marines. He reminds himself of his plan for the future all the time. “I’ve started to work a lot harder in everything I do; I usually have that goal in the back of my mind of what is going to help me get into the Marine Corps,” he said.