Jorge Rodriguez was soaking up his last days of vacation Friday, likely the last time for a while that he'll be able to take three weeks off at one time.

Rodriguez, a 2011 New London High School graduate and U.S. Naval Academy graduate, will start Marine Corps officer training at The Basic School in Quantico, Va., on Tuesday.

Ultimately, he's interested in serving as either an infantry or artillery officer, both demanding jobs that would put him on the front lines.

"I want to make a difference on the battlefield," Rodriguez said by phone from Puerto Rico, where he'd been visiting his father for nearly three weeks.

He said his decision to go that route has been influenced by world events, including attacks carried out by the Islamic State.

"The stuff ISIS does doesn't have a place in this world," he said. "I want to be part of the good fight to stop what they're doing."

Born in Caguas, Puerto Rico — about a 30-minute drive from San Juan — Rodriguez came to the states at the age of 7, first living in New Jersey before moving to New London with his mother to start the fourth grade.

After graduating from New London High, he attended the Naval Academy's preparatory school in Newport, R.I.

Nick Fischer, former superintendent of New London schools, was at Rodriguez's prep school graduation. The two have stayed in touch since meeting Rodriguez's junior year of high school.

Fischer recalled that Rodriguez's physics teacher "totally unsolicited" told Rodriguez's parents and grandmother that he was the "best physics student he'd ever had."

Rodriguez is the first Hispanic student to graduate from New London High and the Naval Academy, according to Fischer, who praised Rodriguez for his "tremendous persistence."

Fischer and his wife also attended Rodriguez's Naval Academy graduation on May 27, when he graduated with a degree in systems engineering. His parents and two brothers were also there.

"He's very intelligent, very perceptive," Fischer said. "He cares a tremendous amount about his family.

Rodriguez is the first in his family to join the military and to graduate from a four-year college.

There were "a lot" of points during his four years at the academy when, Rodriguez said, "I thought I wouldn't make it through," particularly junior year, which is notorious for being a difficult academic year.

He credits his friends and classmates with helping to get him through.

"You can't make it through the Naval Academy alone," he said.

Katie Hallisey, who was the class adviser and school counselor at New London High when Rodriguez was in his senior year, remembers him being "pretty hesitant" about the academy and whether he could get in.

Once she found out that he was second in command of the school's Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps program, she knew "right away" that he could "definitely do this."

"What he's done is truly remarkable but what stands out is his character and the fact that he's so loyal and kind and genuine," Hallisey said. She is now program director at The Step Ahead: A College Planning & Readiness Program in New London.

When profiled by The Day in 2011, Rodriguez, a senior at the time, said that he wanted to be the president of the United States. While the ambition is still there, he said, it's not his main focus right now.

Now 22, Rodriguez offered this advice to others.

"Whether they look at my story or someone else's, they can achieve what they want. They just have to put the effort forward to get there. If they have that desire, that passion to do something great in life, they can ... That's what the world needs is people with a passion, a desire to do something for the world, for their neighbor, for their family," he said.

j.bergman@theday.com