Finding Your Niche: A Long Journey To West Point And Success

Isaac Dixon grew up in Oceanside, California, one of seven children in his family. He attended a very diverse high school, played football, and nurtured dreams of attending West Point after meeting a recruiter from the Academy. Finding the application process daunting, he chose instead to attend Eastern Washington University, where he felt he was not living up to his full potential. He was late applying for West Point the next year and attended community college back in the San Diego area. Finally, he was accepted to the Prep School and completed a year there before entering the United States Military Academy, feeling that he had matured during his earlier academic endeavors. An Engineering Management major, he felt that he initially struggled with academics, but is proud of his ability to persevere and feels that he will become a better officer because of that. He has enjoyed the military and physical challenges of West Point, and especially enjoyed his detail as a Squad Leader for incoming students at the Prep School, indicating that he could help them avoid mistakes he had made. In this interview, he talks about his childhood, his journey to West Point, and his Cadet experiences. He reflects on the semester he spent at home on quarantine when the COVID-19 pandemic began, and how West Point has adapted to operating in the COVID environment. Finally, he describes how he has developed as a leader and what West Point means to him.