Home for the holidays

Editor’s note: The initial version of this story stated, as confirmed by a U.S. Naval Academy staffperson, that Kirk Mason was the first Juanita High grad to graduate from the USNA. After several readers responded with names of other Juanita and USNA alumni, the Reporter reached out to the Navy to re-check the records. The staffperson admitted there was at least one earlier graduate: Gerald Tritz, USNA class of 1999.

As a youngster, Kirk Mason was captivated by ships on Lake Washington.

By high school, he was an Eagle Scout and lifeguard, but the boyhood fascination and youthful exuberance didn’t fizzle out after graduating from Juanita High in 2011.

Last May, Mason graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. He’s an economics major with a minor in Japanese, and will serve as a U.S. Navy Ens. aboard the U.S.S. Gladiator in the tiny country Bahrain.

But Mason still credits his success to his hometown and the many Kirklanders who came alongside him to make the Navy dream a reality.

“To be honest, it was the support from everybody,” he said. “Knowing that I wanted to go to the academy, they really pushed and helped me. It’s a huge packet of things that comes out, and it took me two years to apply for this to get into prep school.”

Mason specifically mentioned math teachers Meg Lewis and Karrie Gengo, Boy Scout leader Steve Gengo, Japanese teacher Kim Roberts, social studies teacher Paul Miller, Nancy Kuda and the JHS library staff, and Jan Link with Academic Link.

Mason was an athlete in high school, playing on the JV basketball team and competing in track, but it was his heart for serving others that pushed him to pursue the military. He was a lifeguard at Houghton Beach, Waverly Beach and Peter Kirk Pool, and taught swimming lessons.

“That was my early experience standing watch,” he said. “Standing up there and making sure people are okay, first aid — whatever people needed.”

Mason said he sees some similarities in his role in Bahrain, where he’ll be the conning officer on the bridge.

He’ll also serve as an electrical officer, charged with making sure the Gladiator — one of the Navy’s few minesweeper — is ready to act to keep the shipping lanes open. The base in in the heart of Manama, Bahrain’s capital city, and boarders the Persian Gulf.

“Biggest reason I want to go there is, obviously I want to serve my country, but I also felt it had a good mission,” Mason said. “I wanted to be forward deployed because they have to fill these jobs, and a lot of guys have wives and I thought, ‘I’m young, I’m single. Why not just go out and see the world?’ It’ll be good for me.”

But getting in to the academy came with challenges. Mason went to prep school after high school, and had to apply for the academy twice. The military was a big adjustment for Mason, who needed recommendation of a senator or U.S. representative.

He reached out to the Washington legislators, eventually gaining the support of then-representative Jay Inslee. After a year in prep school, Mason then had to compete with 40,000 other applicants for 1,000 slots in Annapolis.

Four years later Mason is still in training, but instead of economics classes, it’s the art of war and rules of marine traffic — but that’s a dream come true.

“When I was young, my dad took me to SeaFair a lot,” Mason said. “We saw the carrier and the submarines pulling in, and always stood in the lines and I always thought that was so cool. I grew up wanting to drive ships. I’ve always been really attracted to it.”

Mason’s leave, which ended Dec. 28, is likely one of the last times he’ll see his family — his father, Louis Mason and mother Constance O’Lague, brother Anthony Avery and others — until after his two-year deployment. Kirk Mason is scheduled to deploy to Bahrain on Jan. 17.