Some say hands-on experience is one of the best ways to learn. Others argue that positive leadership and good instruction are the best formats in which to receive new information.

About 1,800 outstanding high school juniors and seniors experienced both while they attended one of three Summer Seminar sessions held this month at the academy.

An annual event, Summer Seminar allows interested students from across the nation to come to the academy and live like midshipmen for six days.

"The seminar is designed and operated by a staff of about 104 third class midshipmen and a command staff of about 32 first class midshipmen," said Don Nelson, assistant director of admissions.

"The admissions department only oversees the project, but it is up to the midshipmen to do all the planning and managing of the summer program," said Nelson.

During their six days at the academy the teens had the chance to see the military, academic and physical sides of the academy.

"The midshipmen give the students the chance to see all aspects of the academy," said Nelson. "We try to let the students know how we do business here.

"They get the chance to know first hand that the opportunity to attend the academy is very special and unique but requires a lot of hard work and discipline," said Nelson.

The teens learned about the academy curriculum and academic majors. They performed parade drills, learned sailing techniques and operated yard patrol craft with the help of experienced midshipmen.

The academic program is one of three aspects of the academy the students saw while they were here. "We introduced them to some first-rate academic programs," explained Nelson. "They participated in academic workshops taught by members of our faculty. They also had the chance to experience some lab experiments like chemistry and ocean engineering. They get to see what the academic program is really like."

Another part of the Summer Seminar is the physical exercise program, or PEP.

"The students were truly tested in their physical abilities," said Midn. 1/C Eric Ranger, regimental commander of Summer Seminar.

"We definitely pushed them to their limits." Every morning they were at Rip Miller Field by 5:15 a.m. to participate in PEP. "PEP was led by midshipmen, Marines and Navy SEALs," said Ranger.

The seniors also learned about military requirements at the academy. They were taught some Navy traditions and history as well as having drills and inspections. They were even given a taste of what Sea Trials is like.

"We set up a course very similar to the Sea Trials course the plebes run at the end of their plebe year,"

explained Ranger. "This is called the 'teamwork challenge.' It gives them the opportunity to pull together as a team and use each other's strengths and weaknesses for the benefit of the team."

The teamwork challenge is hard work and fun.

"I had a great time in the teamwork challenge, but there were parts I struggled with," said Ashley Rushing, a senior from Oklahoma School of Math and Science.

"It was all about teamwork because we were never done with an obstacle until each person in our squad had completed the task," explained Rushing.

Each of the youths had their own reasons for attending Summer Seminar. Some have family members at the academy, and were curious to see if the Navy had something to offer them as well.

"My brother, who is in the Class of '04, is always telling me about the academy. I wanted to have the experience for myself before making the decision where I want to go to school," said Mark Podrazik, a senior at South River High School in Davidsonville, Md.

For others, the thought of getting admitted to the academy has been a goal for as long as they can remember.

"I have always dreamed of becoming a midshipman," said Daniel Jewett, a senior at Severna Park High School in Maryland.

"Even though I live close to the academy, I still did not know what the academy was truly like for a midshipman. The Summer Seminar has given me the opportunity to really see how things work around here," he said.

Some students came for their first look at the academy.

"I wasn't sure what the academy was about when I first got here," said Rushing. "I am so glad I was given the opportunity to come here for Summer Seminar.

"I haven't quite decided on a college yet, but so far the Naval Academy is definitely in the top three."

Though Summer Seminar is hard work for both midshipmen and visiting students, it seems to be a learning experience for both.

"The program is a great opportunity for the midshipmen to show leadership and knowledge, as well as an opportunity for the high school students to learn the ins and outs of the academy," said Nelson.

By Nelson Hernandez

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, June 26, 2003; Page AA14

In three separate groups of about 600 each, high school seniors from throughout the country compete to come to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis for the week-long Summer Seminar, a taste of physical and academic life at the academy that includes lining up in formation, above. Admissions directors expect that a third of the high-schoolers attending the seminar will end up at the academy.

The 600 sweating teenagers form a quivering green sea on the Naval Academy turf, pounding out push-ups with the intensity it takes to be a midshipman.

The 5:45 a.m. workout would be funny if it wasn't so painful. While doing "dive bombers" -- a devilishly difficult kind of push-up -- the high school seniors start with their butts in the air, then dive face first toward the ground, emerging with heads up and rumps down. To compound the indignity, they have to mimic the sound of an airplane going by.

"Eeeeeeiiiirrrrr!" shout those who haven't already collapsed.

Many of the teenagers grunting on the field today are going to be bona fide midshipmen taking the oath of office on Induction Day a year from now. They are participating in Summer Seminar, a week-long program that has become the colorful centerpiece of the admissions process at the highly competitive academy, which only accepts about 10 percent of its 14,000 applicants each year.

Going to Summer Seminar narrows the odds significantly, which has made more parents willing to ante up the course's $300 tuition fee. A third of the graduating Class of 2003 had gone through Summer Seminar, and admissions directors expect that a third of the 1,800 high-schoolers who attend the seminar this year will end up at the academy. Most of the others go to West Point or the U.S. Air Force Academy or other elite colleges.

It isn't easy to get into the week-long program, which hits the mids-in-waiting with a variety of physical and academic obstacles from reveille at 5:15 a.m. to lights out at 10:30 p.m. Applicants need to have a 3.5 GPA, and it helps to have sky-high PSATs. Of the 6,478 applicants, only about 28 percent were accepted. Those who make it are divided into three week-long "sets" of 600 students each.

Though academy officials remind them constantly that they are America's best and brightest, it's clear at a glance that the candidates who show up to Summer Seminar are also ordinary teenagers. The academy's strict regulations have been relaxed so that the candidates' only uniform is a T-shirt -- its color determined by which one of the four companies they're in -- and a navy blue ball cap with the academy's trident logo. The rest is up to the kids, who sport shorts in a rainbow of designs and boast long, flowing hair that is dangerously independent.

They're still working on their military bearing at the post-workout formation just before breakfast.

As the seniors stand at twitchy attention, fourth-year midshipman Robert Madel is checking out Charlie Company's first platoon, whipping them into shape.

"Tuck in your shirts!" he tells several errant candidates.

He comes to Eric Kronberg, standing stiffly at attention. "Zip your zipper! Come on!" he admonishes him.

Kronberg, who has come from Lowell, Ohio, to live through this, looks down with horror to see his T-shirt spilling out of the front of his shorts. His squad mates are laughing. Soon enough, he and Madel are, too.

The nickname "Fly Guy" will stick with him for the two days until they graduate.

The hijinks don't stop at breakfast where some kids in Bravo Company are playing pranks on their midshipman squad leader, Ricky Waters. They stretch out cellophane over Waters's glass when he isn't looking and watch him with anticipation, waiting to see if the trap will work. He unwittingly obliges them by pouring orange juice all over the table.

The squad laughs. Waters taught them that trick.

Moments later, another candidate is standing on a chair, singing "I'm a Little Teapot" at the top of his lungs before the entire cafeteria. Yes, this kind of thing happens all the time, says Robert Huey, a candidate from West Covina, Calif.

Huey is doing back-to-back summer sessions -- his first was at Air Force's. "I want to fly," he explains.

But soon the breakfast of blueberry pancake-encased sausages called "Flap Sticks" is devoured, and it's time for class.

The midshipmen can take several of 21 classes offered, from typical liberal arts fare such as "American Constitutional Criminal Law" to science classes about ocean, aeronautical and astronautical engineering, to professional practicums such as "Seamanship and Navigation" and "Introduction to Fleet Command War-Gaming."

First up for Nicholas Althouse, a candidate from Levittown, Pa., is a light two-hour brain warm-up entitled "Synthesis and Purification of Esters and Polymers." He had already taken the astronautical engineering course.

Althouse is cracking a joke about a classmate baffled by the course's title. "She asked, 'What's an ester?' " he leads. "I said, 'You know polyester? That's a lot of them.' "

The class itself, though, will put the gray matter to the test. Under Professor Graham Clark, the students create Bakelite (a synthetic resin used as an early plastic), polyester fibers, something called "slime" and a biopolymer made out of corn starch and water. Clark walks around the room, checking that everyone's wearing the goofy goggles, making sure no one is injured using the hydrochloric acid or the Bunsen burner and drawing hieroglyphic chemical diagrams on the chalkboard.

In the hallway outside, the kids from the "Chemistry of Photography" course are learning another lesson: the old military maxim known as "Hurry up and wait." Their class is done, and they have to sit in place until everyone else is finished.

Bored, Jeff Stout and Ben Scrivner swap stories about how to bag a nomination from a member of Congress -- one of the biggest obstacles in applying to one of the service academies. Stout, from Poolesville, had it easy, getting in on the ground floor with the recently elected Rep. Christopher Van Hollen Jr.; Scrivner, from Spring, Texas, complains that he has had to stalk his representative, calling every day.

Of course, Stout, whose father is a Navy commander in the submarine service, has put all his military eggs in one basket. "I'm not going to West Point," he says. "My dad would kill me."

"I'm going to West Point," Scrivner interjects.

Stout's focus on beating Army is already sharp. "Well, I'll kill you," he replies.

Before the inter-service rivalry can get out of hand, it's time to march off to the next class.