Cadet Shawn Mueller, son of Edward and Rita Mueller of St. Louis, is one of 46 seniors who received a high school diploma during the Missouri Military Academy’s 117th Commencement Exercises.

The colorful three-day commencement events featured a speech contest, competitive drills, a formal military ball, two dress parades and two awards ceremonies.

The May 28 graduation featured an address by Stephens College President Wendy Libby, Senior Review, baccalaureate services at the academy’s Memorial Chapel and the student body’s Final Formation on the front campus.

Mueller is among the 240 members of the academy’s 117th Corps of Cadets, which is comprised of students from 23 states and 11 nations. The Missouri Military Academy enrolls young men in grades six through 12 and postgraduate studies for a structured college preparatory curriculum.

Last year, 96 percent of the school’s graduates went on to colleges in the United States and abroad, and all in this year’s class have been accepted to collegiate institutions.

Of the institutions on the U.S. Department of Education’s roster of “Exemplary Private Schools,” the Missouri Military Academy is one of only two military academies so honored. The academy last year again was designated as a JROTC “Honor Unit With Distinction” by the U.S. Department of the Army.