WHITTIER, Calif. (KCAL/KCBS) – A California teen was invited to Washington, D.C., to attend President Donald Trump’s address to Congress.
Little did he know he was about to get the surprise of a lifetime.
“I’m pleased to inform you that your application has been accepted,” Trump said Tuesday night. “You will soon be joining the Corps of Cadets.”
Utter shock was seen on 17-year-old Jason Hartley’s face when Trump told him before a joint session of Congress that he had been accepted to West Point.
“If you could read lips, you can hear me saying, ‘Bro, there’s no way,’” Hartley remembered. “So, I turned to her and gave her a hug.”
Hartley and his mother stood in the House gallery, stunned and overjoyed after hearing the news that the teen’s dream of attending one of the nation’s most prestigious military institutions had become reality.
“It was still crazy that the president actually said my name, let alone, admit me into West Point,” Hartley said.
“Throughout the whole time he was talking about him, I was just trying to not cry and hold it together, and I was just kind of taking it all in,” the teen’s mother, Tanya James, added.
Hartley said it all started with a call from the White House last week inviting him to the president’s address.
“He said that he told the president about my story and he was very touched,” Hartley said. “He wanted to invite me to the joint session of Congress and here we are.”
Hartley’s story is one of determination and inspiration.
The Whittier native is now a senior at St. Paul High School in Santa Fe Springs, where he excels in the classroom with a 4.46 GPA and on the field as a six-letter varsity athlete.
He always knew he wanted to continue his family’s tradition of service; his great-grandfather, grandfather and father all wore the uniform.
Hartley’s father was an Army veteran who later served as a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy.
When his father died in 2018, Hartley became even more determined to join the Army.
“He led by example,” Hartley said. “I wanted to be like him in the things he did. He loved this country very much.”
Hartley always wanted to be in the Army and had the grades to attend a good college, but he didn’t want to enlist right out of high school. He soon realized he could go to the West Point military academy; it was the best of both worlds.
“It has a good combination of both military and college so that I wouldn’t have to choose one or the other,” Hartley said.
As Hartley finishes his senior year and prepares to report to West Point to begin basic training on June 30, he said his dad is never far from his thoughts or his heart.
“I knew that I wanted to make him proud and I know that he is proud,” Hartley said. “I know he’s always watching still.”
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