LOCAL GRADS WIN MILITARY ACADEMY SLOTS; CONGRESSMAN CHOOSES 2 SAUGUS ALUMNI FOR WEST POINT, ANNAPOLIS.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Two Saugus High School graduates have received congressional appointments to military academies.

Howie Titzel will report to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, a few weeks after he graduates from Saugus High School on Tuesday.

Ethan Haines, who was in the Saugus High class of 1996, will begin basic training about the same time at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Both were nominated by Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, who honored them and six other academy appointees from his 25th District in a ceremony Saturday at his Valencia office.

``This is what I've wanted to do the past eight years of my life, and I finally got it,'' said Haines, 19, who was willing to wait an extra year to gain admission to the college for sailors and Marines. He already sprinkles his speech with ``yes, ma'am.''

Titzel, 17, a four-year offensive lineman for the Centurions, hopes to make the Army football team.

A few months ago, Titzel visited the campus on the banks of the Hudson River and bunked with Hart High School alumnus Tim Waddell, a West Point freshman.

``He was my host. I just kind of followed him around,'' Titzel said. ``I went at the beginning of March, and while I was there it snowed. That was real pretty. I love the snow because I hardly ever get to see it out here.''

Titzel, active in the National Honor Society and the Varsity Club for student-athletes, was a delegate to the National Youth Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., and is thinking of majoring in political science and someday becoming a politician.

``I watch the news,'' he said. ``I love debating. I love to argue with people.''

Haines has spent the last year preparing for Annapolis. He attended a military preparatory training program for four months at Crestline in the San Bernardino Mountains. He then enrolled at College of the Canyons and took courses in calculus, chemistry and computer science. He likely will have to take the same courses, among others, at the Naval Academy, but it never hurts to get a little classroom practice, Haines reasoned.

Haines relishes the opportunity to choose between the Marine Corps and the Navy at the tradition-filled, 152-year-old academy on the Chesapeake Bay. He will have until his junior year to decide.

``Both my grandfathers were in the Marine Corps,'' he noted.

Then again, Haines mused: ``There's Naval Intelligence. I could go in a sub. I get a kick out of all of it.''

Haines said he long has been consciously preparing himself for an academy education.

Haines was active in the National Honor Society and the California Scholarship Federation,, and he played two years of varsity football and varsity golf in high school.

He served two years as a cadet with the Civil Air Patrol based at Whiteman Airport in Pacoima.

``I've always had a deep pride in my nation and in wanting to serve it. Once I heard those were the premier officer-training schools in the world, then I thought, that's what I'm after,'' he said about his determination to attend a U.S. military academy.

Also receiving appointments to military academies were Jeremiah Guild of Littlerock, a graduate of Desert Christian High School; Justin Watson of Acton, a Highland High School graduate; Lisa Yates of Palmdale, a Highland grad; Ruben Marin from Littlerock, a Littlerock High School graduate; Darla Jacobs from Palmdale, a Littlerock High grad; and Joseph Betz, from Lebec.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: (color) Military representatives join Santa Clarita Mayor Clyde Smyth, second from left; Justin Watson; Howie Titzel; Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita; Ethan Haines; Lisa Yates; Jeremiah Guild; and Darla Jacobs.

John Lazar/Special to the Daily News