Alvarado High School senior Ryan Thompson has it on good authority that the initial weeks of his freshman year at Air Force Academy will not be restful.

His source: former Alvarado football standout Broam Hart, also an academy freshman-to-be after a year at Air Force Prep.

“Broam said to get your sleep while you can, because you won’t get much after you get there,” Thompson said with a grin. “For the first six weeks, you go to bed at 11 [p.m.] and wake up at 4:30 [a.m.]. You long for Sundays, when you get to sleep in until 7. And he told me not to even think about smiling unless you’re in a really casual setting.

“I just have to focus. If I’m 100 percent focused, I can do anything.”

So far, so good.

He’s among the most accomplished seniors in the history of AHS.

His student life has included athletics, Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps., drama, choir and report cards composed almost exclusively of A’s. Outside school, he made Eagle Scout before his freshman year.

“I knew if I waited until high school, I wouldn’t get it done,” he said.

He’s never run out of time in his crowded schedule. He has come close.

“It’s not easy, especially as a teenager,” he said. “There are mornings I wake up and think, ‘I really don’t want to go to school today. I don’t want to move from the bed to the couch.’ A lot of self-motivation goes on, and my parents [Craig and Andrea Thompson] are the biggest motivational influences in my life.

“I had to transition my time management. My parents would give me sticky notes of things to accomplish, and I would compile lists myself. I eventually got a couple of daily planners. That’s unusual for teenagers but not unusual for this [senior] class. I have a lot of classmates in the top 10 percent doing that, because our schedules really do get hectic.”

Hectic probably isn’t the word.

“I played football and was in Scouts,” Thompson said. “I also had ROTC. Then there was choir and theater for musicals and different plays. Last year, I was in a couple of productions. That’s not to mention summer jobs and different camps.

“I had to learn to manage my time, and I think Air Force Academy looked highly on that. If I hadn’t kept my grades up, they would have said, ‘He’s doing all this stuff, but he’s only a C student.’ I’ve made straight A’s except for one class.”

Because of a successful seminar camp at the academy last summer, he had an edge over most prospective appointees.

“That camp is to show you what life is like there,” he said. “I had a blast. My squad mates and I got along very well. I started the admission process a little before that because I knew I was most likely going to end up there. I had the letters from congressmen and numerous other people. After summer seminar, they sent me an appointment letter saying, ‘You’re in as long as you don’t do anything stupid.’”

He was one of 20 seniors nationally to receive an ROTC nomination to the academy. He also received a congressional appointment.

“I don’t know which one the academy used,” he said. “I just know I was accepted.”

Around October, he said, “I started to slack off a little bit [academically],” he said. “Around Christmas, I got a rude awakening on some progress reports and stepped it up. I did a lot better the second semester.”

He said he’s aware there will be challenges, mentally and physically.

“It will be a little rough, but they tell us we can make it through. They say there will be times we’ll want to fold our tents and pack up and go home. I’m probably going to have a few of those moments. Their job is to break us down so we can be built back up. Even in summer seminar, we went through a couple of days of what cadet life is like, when the upperclassmen get in your face and yell at you.

“It’s not fun. They say that when you get there the first day, you’ll be waiting in lines forever and laughing and joking. Then you’ll get on the bus, and the pain will start. A lot of people consider those first six weeks hell.

“But they’re trying to help you out in the long run. The more they break me down, the more I’ll be able to build myself back to the person I need to be. And the person I need to be is the person who is going to succeed.

“I don’t have a quitting attitude. I’ve never quit anything unless it was because of time. I’m not worried about coming home or academics and staying in shape in the high altitude.”

He figures his ace in the hole is Scouting.

“I don’t think I’d be half the leader I am now without Scouts,” Thompson said. “I was a senior patrol leader for 2 to 3 1/2 years. I went to some national youth leadership events. I learned a lot.

“Not all people are in Scouting for the same reason. Some are there to goof around. Some like camping. Some are there for the merit badges. I got a lot of satisfaction when we worked together as a team and showed we could accomplish something in the leadership training exercises.

“From what I’ve seen and heard from Broam, teamwork is one of the most important things at the academy. You have to be self-reliant, too, but people who are strictly self-reliant will get eaten alive.”

Soon enough, he’ll be a cadet.

“I get a little summer vacation after graduation,” he said. “My family is going [to Colorado] a little early to do some river rafting. I’ll work on my tan. Then bright and early June 23, I report. I’m excited. I’m ready to go.”