Pittsburgh culture anchors local Merchant Marine Academy grads
Julie Jarbeck Walko sat in the football stadium’s stands, feeling nothing but relief. It was the summer of 2017, and her son, Nathaniel, had just completed the United States Merchant Marine Academy’s two- to three-week indoctrination period known as INDOC. It’s an intentionally sudden shift toward the military lifestyle, a “quasi boot camp,” where the plebe candidates receive haircuts, uniforms, physical training and more, all while having almost no contact with their loved ones.
For Mrs. Walko’s family, and many others, it was the longest they’d ever gone without a word from their children. That’s why they excitedly traveled from their Ohio Township home to the academy, in Kings Point, N.Y., to take part in the ceremonies that mark the end of that period.
The only comfort she expected — all she thought she needed — was a hug from Nathaniel. Then, she started chatting with the man sitting behind her.
Andy Mesaros’ son, Alex, had also just completed INDOC. There was some small talk: Alex would play baseball for the academy, and Nathaniel planned to work with the boats at the waterfront. “Where are you from?” was the natural next question, but no one had to ask “Where’s that?” By complete chance, the family behind the Walkos lives only 10 miles away from them, in McCandless.
“When you think about that nationally, you have under 300 kids, and you get two from Pittsburgh, 10 miles apart.” Mrs. Walko said. “It’s pretty crazy to think that happened.”
The Walko and Mesaros family members became Facebook friends and joined the same regional USMMA family Facebook group, which includes parents from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. But despite the small class size, the Pittsburgh “kids” spent years having only a theoretical knowledge of one another due to the pull of their extracurriculars.
Nathaniel grew up loving the water. Family vacations to Chincoteague, Va., included days spent on rented boats and time at the helm before he could spell the island’s name. At 15 years old, he started working at Washington’s Landing Marina, and by 16, he’d saved enough money to buy his own 15½foot boat and trailer.
He excelled at Avonworth High School, participating in a few technical clubs and the Three Rivers Rowing Club. When looking at colleges, he cared most about the ability to major in marine engineering. He worked through the application processes for the U.S. Naval and Coast Guard academies — like the USMMA, they require congressional nominations — and several colleges with Navy ROTC programs.
When his family visited the USMMA, there were no tours available. So, they walked around on their own. He’d never seen or even heard of a school with dozens of ships available, tied up right at the edge of campus and included in the curriculum. “It just fit,” he remembers thinking.
“It’s the only one of the federal service academies that really throws you right out into the shipping industry and gets you out on the water in a professional way,” Nathaniel said.
Alex was an accomplished two-sport athlete at North Allegheny High School and no slouch in the classroom, either. While at a U.S. Naval Academy baseball camp, he spoke to the USMMA baseball coach and was wowed by the options available to USMMA midshipmen: They’re Navy reservists while there, but at the end of their schooling, they can choose to enter any of the five U.S. military branches or work a civilian maritime job.
With Nathaniel working at the waterfront and Alex on the baseball team, they were assigned to different “splits,” meaning opposite class schedules and times out at sea.
That changed during senior year, and the timing couldn’t have been better.
Coincidentally, they shared a major, marine engineering systems, which Alex describes as “basically mechanical engineering, just geared to boats.” Finally, that placed them in the same company of midshipmen and only two doors down from one another in the barracks.
Due to COVID-19 precautions, they were “locked down” from the time they arrived in summer 2020 until November, meaning no visits home. But luckily, a little bit of home was just a couple of doors down.
“I could really go for a Primanti’s and an I.C. Light right about now,” one would say to the other periodically through the lockdown. They’d swap stories from home in the hall, relaying what their parents said on the phone about “crazy” weather and any other slice of life that made the 400-mile distance feel a little shorter.
“You get a little homesick,” Alex said. “It was nice to have that person there.”
Thanksgiving break was their first opportunity to visit home. They made the drive together, which was over six hours of getting-toknow-you time.
“It was funny because we had these three years of experiencing the same thing, just separately,” Alex said.
They talked about their futures. They both decided to go active duty in the U.S. Navy, although Alex would select the civil engineering corps versus Nathaniel’s interest in nuclear submarines.
Then, they moved onto more important topics, such as their mutual love for Sheetz. As soon as they drove far enough into Pennsylvania, their top priority was “Sheetz staples,” and they bonded over chicken tender snack wraps and mac ’n’ cheese bites.
About six hours into the drive, Nathaniel asked Alex how to get to his house. “Get off the Mt. Nebo exit on 279,” he said. “Have you ever heard of that?” Nathaniel knew it well because it’s the same one he takes to his own house.
Coming off two sea terms where they saw the vastness of our planet from ships sailing near Europe and the Middle East, the proximity of their homes seemed especially “weird,” as Nathaniel put it.
Another thing they have in common: Pittsburgh pride. Nathaniel credits Pittsburgh’s ethnic diversity for a feeling of comfort while traveling the world. Alex comes from a long line of coal miners, whose blue-collar work ethic makes gritty tasks on ships, such as scraping out boilers, come naturally. And then there’s that Pittsburgh enthusiasm.
“Pittsburghers are pretty well known to have a lot of pride in our city, sometimes to a fault,” Nathaniel said. “It’s definitely an asset because anything we’ve done at school, any activity we were involved in, we just have so much pride in it that we take it to the next level of intensity.”
They graduated from the USMMA in June. Their families were again piled into the football stadium, although this time they were socially distanced. As a COVID-19 safety measure, the graduates and families were ushered out of the stadium as soon as the ceremony ended, meaning the Walkos and Mesaroses missed each other altogether.
Now officers in the U.S. Navy, Ensigns Walko and Mesaros know they’ll cross paths again, maybe even for an I.C. Light and a Primanti Bros. sandwich when they both make it home for a holiday. And, just as they have over the past four years, their parents will keep track of their own with the help of the USMMA parents and alumni group.
“It takes a village,” Mr. Mesaros said. “To know that Julie and Nathaniel’s family was keeping an eye on them as well as we were, to have that kind of connection, it’s really important.”