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Two Cutler Bay students, Stevie Rae Ricklick and Natalie Gembicki, who met at age 6 at Cutler Ridge Park, where they played and swam together as children, are both heading off to military academies this summer after being nominated by Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar.
Stevie Ricklick, a Palmetto High senior, is an outstanding soccer, basketball and flag football player. She has been nominated to go to the U.S. Military Academy (West Point).
Natalie Gembicki, a senior at Cutler Bay High, is an All-State swimmer for four years running, first team All-Dade. She has been nominated to go to the Air Force Academy.
Gembicki, a straight A student throughout high school and middle school, had contacted her swim coach since she is a USA Competition swimmer, looking for upcoming meets in which she could participate, and during their conversation the coach offered her a trip to go see the Air Force Academy.
“I went there and it just kind of kicked off from there,” Gembicki said. “I loved it and I knew it was the place for me. That has been the goal ever since, to just get in and now we’re going. I’m the first generation in my family to be in the Air Force.”
She discovered by accident that her friend Stevie also was nominated for an academy.
“I wasn’t too surprised because we always have been super alike and it was in middle school when we went our separate ways, but we always had the same interests when we were younger and our birthdays are around the same time, and when she committed to West Point and I saw her at Maria Salazar’s nomination reception, I wasn’t too shocked. I knew she was going to do special things when we were younger.”
Gembicki has a specific goal in mind.
“I want to pursue a major in meteorology at the Academy and hopefully fly into hurricanes and collect data. That would be the ultimate dream, to become a weather officer and fly into hurricanes.”
Stevie Ricklick also is an excellent student and active in all sports, especially soccer, basketball and flag football. She had a similar awakening to her new goal.
“My grandfather was in the military, but I didn’t even know I wanted to join the military until my junior year,” Ricklick said. “All my life I’ve always played sports. That’s how I met Natalie. We both swam together. She went her way swimming; I went my way with soccer.
‘I always thought I was going to go play Division 1 soccer (in college), that was going to be my thing, and then I learned about West Point and it just felt more fitting to me. I was about to go to school with a whole bunch of people just like me and challenge me and I honestly wanted to do something a little bit bigger than myself just playing. I wanted to go to not only better myself but also go to serve my country,” Ricklick added.
Both girls will be heading off to their respective academies in June.
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