GHS graduate receives Congressional nomination to Air Force
Academy
While weighing her collegiate-path options just like the rest of her classmates two years ago as a junior at Gilroy High School, Rahni Giardina found difficulty in pinpointing a destination that could satiate her interests and curiosity.
“I couldn’t pick a school that fit me,” she said.
But a conversation with her parents about the United States Air Force, originally intended to entice her brother, struck a cord with Giardina instead, and got the ball rolling in the right direction for the former Mustangs soccer player, who earned two First-Team All-League selections and Co-Sophomore of the Year during her time in GHS blue.
“I get an education for free, I get to travel, and all these other benefits. I thought, ‘that’s me,'” Giardina said.
It was her personal trifecta.
She figured acceptance into the Academy would be as easy as signing her name on the dotted line.
But that isn’t the case.
Interested parties must not only gain admittance into the Academy, but also be granted a nomination from his or her Congressional representative.
Applications for nomination are reviewed once per year and are critiqued using an extensive list of traits and parameters, Deputy District Director Mike Nguyen said.
“The selection of nominees was made after a rigorous interview process wherein applicants were evaluated based on their grades, test scores, community service, leadership potential and life experiences,” said Nguyen, who filters through the applications and submits them to the Service Academy Advisory Board.
Applying once for nomination, given an interview by Congressman Mike Honda’s appointed board of five distinguished members of the U.S. Military but rejected didn’t discourage Giardina from getting to where she wanted to be.
Instead, Giardina attended the Air Force Academy preparatory School in Colorado Springs, where she endured 10 months of intensive military training, upheld an arduous schooling schedule and played soccer, all the while receiving guidance in shaping her leadership skills in preparation for entrance into the Academy.
Giardina made the most of her time at the Prep School. But, naturally, she had no choice. Why?
“People would get kicked out for the smallest things,” Giardina said.
She adjusted to the demanding and calculated way of living, graduating from the Prep School earlier this year and earning herself a second interview with the advisory board.
“I noticed that she had blossomed and matured and was so much more self-confident and outgoing,” said Lt. Col. Lisa Hillhouse, who has served on the advisory board for the past three years. “We are looking for that whole-person concept: Stellar academics, a great athlete, passion, drive, character, leadership. She had to really work hard at the Prep School.
“Most students do not get in on their first try. It’s only an 8-to-9-percent selection rate. So coming into a second or third try, you really have to want it.”
This time, Giardina nailed the interview.
“It was a great feeling knowing that I had an even greater chance of getting an appointment to the academy,” Giardina said. “The long, almost yearlong process, tested me in ways most people won’t experience and at times I wanted to quit. But I did not.”
At a quaint ceremony inside a stuffy office building in Campbell on Friday night, Giardina, her bubbly personality shining through, received the final check mark. With her family in attendance she received her Congressional nomination into the Air Force Academy from District 15 Congressman Honda, the remaining piece to her educational puzzle – so far.
“I know with Rahni’s background, she’ll take the kinds of values that she has grown up with here in the valley and make us all very, very proud,” Honda said. “For me it’s a great privilege to be able to do this.”
The moment capped the tumultuous 12-month transition into the prestigious military institution and also kick started a four-year journey, which will ultimately conclude with Giardina graduating as a military officer.
“It’s basically everything I’ve asked for,” Giardina said. “It’s all worth it. Suck it up for four years and I’ll be happy.”
Giardina is studying geospatial science, which covers areas such as satellite navigation, she said, and a spot on the Falcons’ soccer team is a possibility.
“I’ve met with the coaches and they seemed to like me,” she said. “I will be trying out.”
Her overall goal is to soar.
“I want to fly cargo planes,” she said.
Giardina begins three-month basic training Thursday, though, that doesn’t worry her much. She has been through it before, noting that it’s the altitude that causes the most trouble and that the “fun stuff, assault course and rifle training” occurs over the final three weeks.
