FORGE is a nonprofit, leadership-led professional training program preparing high school students nationwide for U.S. service academies and four-year ROTC scholarships — at no cost to accepted families.
FORGE exists because the path to a service academy, an ROTC scholarship, or a top-tier university is genuinely difficult to navigate — and the families who would benefit most often have the least access to the people who have walked it.
The program was designed around one observation: when a student has a clear plan, disciplined preparation, and direct coaching from someone who has already done it — they compete. FORGE delivers all three, free of charge, to every accepted student.
FORGE is not delegated. Every coach is personally vetted — professionals who have walked this path.
The most useful preparation for a service academy application is not a class — it is a coach. Someone who has lived inside the process, knows what selection boards and congressional nominators actually weigh, and is willing to walk every student through it personally. That is not a service that can be franchised, automated, or volunteered into existence.
FORGE is led by people who have done it. The program is delivered hands-on, not handed off.
FORGE was designed around a preparation pathway that has already worked — the same disciplined three-year arc that takes a competitive high school recruit through service academy admission and into a cadet uniform. That pathway is the blueprint FORGE was built to repeat for students pursuing West Point, Annapolis, the Air Force Academy, the Coast Guard Academy, the Merchant Marine Academy, or a four-year ROTC scholarship.
These are not marketing words. They are the standards every FORGE student is held to — and the qualities every selection board is looking for.
Show up prepared. Hit your benchmarks. Do the work when no one is watching. Service academy preparation rewards the student who is consistent — not the one who is occasionally brilliant.
Honor codes are real. Selection boards read essays carefully. FORGE students learn to write, speak, and lead with the honesty that academies and ROTC programs demand from day one.
Lead from where you stand. Sports captain, club officer, Boys & Girls State delegate, Summer Leadership Experience — FORGE coaches each student toward a documented record of leading others, year over year.
The reason to do any of this is because the country — and Oklahoma — needs leaders who serve. FORGE selects students who already understand that, and prepares them to act on it.
Every coach in FORGE is personally vetted — professionals who have walked this path.
28-year Army Colonel · West Point Class of 1997 · MIT Seminar XXI Senior Fellow · West Point Association of Graduates Class Advisor. Co-founder and head coach of FORGE.
Read Dan's full bio
Co-founder and CEO of FORGE · Marketing Director for the Billingsley Family of Dealerships. Janie leads FORGE strategy, partnerships, and donor engagement.
Read Janie's full bioThe leaders who guide FORGE's strategy and stewardship on behalf of the students and donors we serve.
Chairman, President, and CEO of the 125-year-old Citizens Bank of Edmond and founder of ROGER, a digital-first military bank. Recognized among American Banker's Most Powerful Women in Banking for 12 consecutive years.
Read Jill's full bio
Ph.D. in English and retired Army lieutenant colonel with twenty-eight years of military leadership and over sixteen years in higher education, including faculty roles at West Point and The Citadel.
Read Sean's full bio
20 Year Active Duty Retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel – USAFA Class of 1998 – USAF F-35A and F-16 Combat Pilot – Current Captain and Instructor at a Major US Airline.
Read Brad's full bioApplications are open for rising sophomores and juniors. Seniors considered case by case.
