The Reserve Officer Training Corps, also known as ROTC, was established in 1951 on Northwestern State University’s campus. The program provides opportunities and skills for both students who are interested in military careers through the U.S. Army after graduation and for those who aren’t. Those who do plan on joining the military after college go on to have a wide variety of positions available to them due to the experiences and training that the program has provided them.
The students of ROTC work throughout the school year in different settings to develop leadership, combat, life tools and communication skills to help them for now and in the future. Camryn Huff is a sophomore nursing major and second platoon sergeant who plans to join the nursing corps after graduation. Huff has gained numerous new skills and disciplines throughout her time in the program, a major one being self-motivation.
“I joined because I wanted to grow physically and mentally and felt like I was stagnating for a while,” Huff said. “I come from a military family so I knew that there was no better structure than that to achieve those goals. ROTC taught me how to work well with my own time and hold myself accountable when I needed it the most.”
Self-motivation isn’t the only characteristic that students learn throughout ROTC. Jacob Mullican, a sophomore history major, takes pride in his position as a first platoon sergeant and how it has taught him important leadership skills. “In ROTC, we don’t only strive to be physically fit or mentally strong but to be leaders,” Mullican said. “Our leadership courses are all about making us better leaders and understanding what that means.”
ROTC not only helps with the development of skills for students but also helps with building a sense of community and connection with one another. Many of the students’ favorite memories in ROTC stem from field training exercises and tactical labs where they work with their classmates.
Kaleb Prince, a sophomore accounting major, made several great memories from training, with a favorite being at a spring training exercise at Camp Blanding Joint Training Center in Clay County, Florida. “I got to shadow a platoon leader and I was able to pick up on so much useful information that I still use today,” Prince said.
ROTC is not only a program that provides students with the means to a career, but also an opportunity to gain important building blocks for life, a sense of community and a purpose in whichever career path they choose.
