New London - A 17-year-old city resident who said he will be the first person in his family to join the military and the first to graduate from college has been admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy.

Jorge Rodriguez, a senior at New London High School, will spend the next school year at the Academy's prep school in Newport, R.I., in anticipation of going to the Annapolis, Md., campus in September 2012.

"I'm super excited,'' Rodriguez said Tuesday. "This is my dream come true. I've always wanted to be a Naval officer."

He said he wants to study nuclear engineering and be assigned to an aircraft carrier as a nuclear surface warfare officer.

Rodriguez has a 3.91 grade point average and ranks tenth in his class, according to an announcement sent out Tuesday by the school district. He has been in Naval ROTC at the high school for four years and is the executive officer of the program. He is a student representative to the New London Board of Education.

Rodriguez also applied and was accepted to Pennsylvania State University and Norwich University.

He is the first New London High School student in more than 10 years to earn an appointment to the Naval Academy, according to the school's Naval ROTC Cmdr. Theodore W. Ward.

Staff members at the high school described Rodriguez as "well rounded, driven, passionate and brave. He constantly strives to improve himself," according to the notice.

Rodriguez said he is looking forward to going to school in Newport, where he has visited twice before for ROTC training and for a leadership academy.

"It's a wonderful place,'' he said. "The views there are amazing."

Rodriguez has another dream he wants everyone to know about.

"I want to become president of the United States,'' he said.

He was nominated for the Annapolis appointment by former U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd.

In a typical year, according to the academy's website, 4,000 candidates receive nominations, but only 1,500 appointments are given out.

k.edgecomb@theday.com