John Kennedy became an Eagle Scout at the age of 11, earned 56 merit badges and served as a student leader at the National Scout Jamboree in Washington, D.C. He attended C.E. Byrd High School, where he served as president of the Debating Club, and graduated in 1936 at the age of 16 as salutatorian in a class of 525 graduates, and was named Outstanding Cadet in ROTC. At the age of 16, he attended the Marion Military Institute in Alabama, where he placed second on the Dean’s List and achieved the highest math scores ever recorded to date. In 1938, he was nominated for admission into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and graduated with the Class of 1942. He retired in 1972 as a U.S. Army Colonel.