Feature Story

U.S. Coast Guard First Class Cadet Christen Shih, 21, a native of Mountain View, Calif., poses for a photograph Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. Shih is on the Fall 2011 Board of Trustees list, the most prestigious honors list at the academy. U.S. Coast Guard photograph by Petty Officer 3rd Class Diana Honings.

Life at a military academy is not easy. It isn’t supposed to be. The arduous training takes promising young people and develops them into effective military officers. People like U.S. Coast Guard Academy First Class Cadet Christen Charles Shih, a native of Mountain View, Calif.

Shih was placed on the Board of Trustees Honors List for the 2011 fall semester, the most prestigious honors list at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.

To be included on the Board of Trustees Honors List, cadets must earn three uniform stars for excellence in military, academic and athletic performance during the semester. This means a cadet must simultaneously attain a term grade point average above 3.15, be in the top 25 percent of their class in military performance and obtain a score of 270 or higher on the Physical Fitness Examination. Those who make the list are among the top 2 percent in the rankings of the more than 1,000 cadets who make up the corps.

“I didn’t make the Board of Trustees list overnight. It took me four years to get where I am today, and this last semester was the first time I have made the list,” said Shih. “I have struggled with grades, military obligations and physical fitness, but in the end, I attribute my success to hard work. I love the quote ‘hard work beats talent, when talent doesn’t work hard,’ because it helps motivate me when times get hard. I wouldn’t say I am the most naturally gifted at many things, but I am blessed with the ability to grind it out and keep slowly moving uphill.”

Shih is a Peer Diversity Educator, a member of the International Ballroom Dance Club and boxing club.  He is also involved with Habitat for Humanity, Boy Scouts and Ovarian Cancer Walk.

Shih is a 2008 graduate of St. Francis High School and is scheduled to graduate from the Coast Guard Academy in May 2012 with a degree in management.

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy, one of the nation’s five federal service academies, is located on the west bank of the Thames River. Each year, the Coast Guard Academy graduates nearly 200 newly commissioned ensigns to lead the smallest of all the military services.

U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review and Forbes Magazine have recognized the U.S. Coast Guard Academy as one of the top institutions of higher learning. U.S. News & World Report magazine ranks the academy among the top 20 Undergraduate Engineering Programs in the nation.