By Kyle Coppola
Lake County’s 2nd Lt. Dylan Van Note Graduates From West Point
Congratulations to MDCA graduate Dylan Van Note, who has graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Van Note who graduated MDCA with the class of 2020, played baseball and football for MDCA where he was the captain of both teams. He was also involved with the Senior Beta Club, President of the SGA and was elected Vice President of the Student Association during the 2019 and 2020 school years. Van Note also was the Salutatorian for the class of 2020.
(A West Point Tradition – Graduates throw their hats and the kids that are present run out on the field and get a hat. They get to keep the hat and inside the cadets, leave notes of encouragement and sometimes money for the kids.)
Van Note was a talented baseball player, but his senior season was cut short due to Covid. During his junior 2019 season, he boasted a .468 average with 44 hits, 24 RBIs, and 34 runs scored. Van Note was on track for a remarkable senior year before playing his final game in March of 2020 when all sports stopped due to the pandemic.
While at West Point he received the distinguished cadet award for his continuous 3.75 or higher GPA. For this he earned a gold star. Van Note graduated summa cum laude and received his diploma from President Joe Biden. Only 55 cadets received this honor out of 1,015 graduates. Van Note would also receive the superintendence award Brigadier General Charles J. Barrett memorial award for excellence in foreign language.
Van Note had a lot of support not just from his family but from MDCA faculty. MDCA Football Coach Kolby Tackett was there along with Athletic Director Megan Ziegelhofer. Head of MDCA Math department Stefanie Monn0Head and Robin Leto who is the Dean of Academics were also in attendance.
Van Note has spent the past four years at West Point and graduates as a 2nd Lt.
(Cousin, Kevin Davina officially pinned Dylan Van Note in his commissioning ceremony.)
(This is the MDCA football motto: John 15:13 “No greater love than a man who lays his life down for his brother.” This is what Van Note chose to have engraved on the coin for his commissioning service.)
In the photo above, athletic director Megan Ziegelhofer says “It is super cool that Dylan chose to have this engraved because it shows our current players that family is forever and that verse is something they say everyday before and after practice. It is something Dylan carried with him through his time at West Point.”
West Point only accepts 9.6% of applicants so anytime we have a Lake or Sumter county student accepted it’s a big accomplishment. Dylan was regarded as a role model throughout his high school years and now even more so as he serves our country.
We are thankful for his service and want to extend our heartfelt congratulations to the Van Note family. We couldn’t think of a better individual to represent Lake County and the USA.
Photo Credit – Mount Dora Christian Academy
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
