Hurdles cleared, teen o≠ toNavalAcademy
louisville » Louisville’s Susan Loo and Larry Donner admit they were not good empty-nesters.
In 1996, the two had been married for 14 years, raised a son, Brian, who was then 24 and living in Keystone, and itched to have another little one running around their home.
After Loo had several miscarriages, the couple looked into Chinese adoptions. The idea took some getting used to, but before long, Loo and Donner couldn’t wait to pick up their 7-month-old daughter, Carly, from China.
“Itwasmy midlife crisis,” Donner said. “It was either a Harley or a Carly.”
Eighteen years later, Carly Donner, a senior atMonarch High School, excels at most everything she does. She was recently accepted to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., with a special nomination from the superintendent of the academy and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.
Loo remembers holding Carly after leaving the orphanage and noticing her baby’s frail body.
“Her arms and legs just hung there. There was no muscle tone, no nothing,” she said.
With love and care, baby Carly got stronger and has been a force to be reckoned with since.
“She never crawled. She went straight fromthe floor to walking,” Donner said.
AsCarly grew, so, too, did her love for physical activity.
“She’s run every Bolder Boulder since she was 10,” Donner said, later joking that his goal for this year’s Bolder Boulder is to beat his daughter’s 10-year-old time of 1 hour, 2 minutes.
Now, Carly participates on a competitive jump-rope team, runs and hurdles for her high school track team, is president of the school’s marketing club, is a member of the National Honor Society and maintains a 4.7 GPA.
“I alwayswant to be doing something,” Carly said. “By getting involved in sports and activities, it gives me a set schedule where I know I’ll have things to do. I’ve also been a pretty competitive sort of person.”
Although her parents sometimes wish she slept more, they both think her perseverancewill serve her well at the Naval Academy.
When Carly first announced to her parents that she was interested in attending theNavalAcademy, they were a bit surprised. They always knew their daughter would be attending college, but this wasn’t what they had envisioned.
“When she first announced that she was looking at service academies, it was a real surprise,” Loo said. “I said, ‘If you’re really into the military, why don’t you do ROTC because you could do military and have a normal college life?’ And her response was, ‘Well, I don’twant a normal college life. Iwant to go to a service academy.’ ”