Midshipmn candidates stand at parade rest during morning formation at the Naval Academy Preparatory School (NAPS). Since its official founding in 1919, NAPS has been the first stop in the careers of many great leaders of the Navy and Marine Corps. USNA photo by MCSN Patrick Green.

‘‘We received a call from an author who was cleaning out an attic, and she found a letter written by a student at NAPS to his mom,” said Stephen Arendt, Special Assistant to the Academic Dean, Naval Academy Preparatory School. ‘‘The letter was dated 1915, and it was in NAPS letterhead. My guess is that informally, NAPS probably started somewhere in the summer and fall of 1914. So the first class was in 1915, assuming it was a year long.”

Since then, NAPS has been fulfilling its mission of preparing selected candidates morally, mentally and physically, with emphasis on strengthening the academic foundation of individual candidates for officer accession through the U.S. Naval Academy.

‘‘The students receive strong attention to their academic background, so they’re ramped up for their transition to the Academy,” Arendt said.

With its history of preparing Midshipmen candidates, NAPS has in the past also prepared its students for entrance to the Air Force Academy, Coast Guard Academy and Merchant Marine Academy.

‘‘NAPS graduates are serving with distinction all over the world,” said Arendt. ‘‘Back in the 80s, the former executive officer here was the major general who led the 1st Marine Expeditionary Forces from Kuwait into Baghdad – then Maj. Gen. James Mattis, who is now a four-star general.”

Among the familiar names and distinguished graduates, Arendt said there are four Medal of Honor recipients, a four-star general and many Bronze Star recipients who have all attended NAPS at one point in time.

In addition to developing such distinguished graduates, NAPS is home to technological milestones. With the advent of computers, NAPS and the Academy were two of the first organizations to connect to a computer network, a major accomplishment for the time.

‘‘When I first came to NAPS from graduate school, we had some challenges with the computers. We taught basic prog-ramming language,” said Arendt. ‘‘The NAPS class of 1980 had the Model-35 clunkers, which now you’ll probably see in the archives.”

Because all the military personnel in the area wanted to utilize the Academy’s network, the Academy initially limited use to only authorized users physically located on the Yard. According to Arendt, that was only a problem for a short while.

‘‘Within a year NAPS officially became a part of the Yard and in October 1979, we had our first connection to the mainframe at the Academy,” said Arendt.

Arendt said that between then and now, the fundamental mission of NAPS is unchanged.

‘‘I think the common thread is that the nature of the mission here has been relatively constant,” said Arendt. ‘‘We’re helping students might find an almost impossible challenge at the Academy gain a measure of confidence so that they will not only gain entrance, but also graduate from the Academy.”