Ever since he was in the fourth grade, Steve Ivans had been talking about joining the military, his mother Vicky Ivans says.

The younger Ivans, of Medford, had several relatives who served in the armed forces, including an uncle who had been in the Army. The dream of one day wearing a uniform of his own was something that stayed with Ivans as he got older.

At Patchogue-Medford High School, where Ivans graduated in 2020, he ran track and cross country and was a member of the school’s Air Force Junior ROTC program.

Ivans was thinking of seeking an appointment to West Point until a friend from Pat-Med, who was already at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, took Ivans on a tour of the campus in Kings Point, in Nassau County.

The experience got Ivans to change course and pursue an appointment to the Merchant Marine Academy. He was nominated by then-U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin.

On June 22, Ivans graduated with honors with a degree in marine engineering, one of 214 members of the Merchant Marine Academy’s Class of 2024. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was the commencement speaker.

Ivans, 22, who was commissioned as an Ensign 01 in the U.S. Naval Reserve and received his Coast Guard assistant engineer’s license, shipped out last week for two months at sea.

He’s excited about the opportunity to put what he learned at the Merchant Marine Academy into practice.

It’s the first step in a career for Ivans in which he’s committed to at least eight years in the Naval Reserve, including at least six years at sea.

It’s not Ivans’s first time aboard ship. He spent his senior year at the Merchant Marine Academy at sea as an engine cadet aboard three ships, which traveled to various parts of the world, including Asia and the Middle East.

“There are a lot of benefits to going this route,” Vicky Ivans said of her son’s decision to attend the Merchant Marine Academy. “It develops a person like nothing else will.”
“I’m very proud of him,” she said.