Photo and story by Erin Cooper / Contributing Writer
Middle Tennessee State University’s ROTC program held their bi-annual award ceremony on Tuesday in the Keathley University Center Theater to award members for their exceptional performance skills, high grades and strong leadership qualities. Cadets who were honored lined up onstage, stood at attention and held their heads high as they received awards based on their work within the program.
According to Today’s Military, a website produced by the U.S. Department of Defense, the Reserve Officer Training Corps program was founded in 1916 to help prepare college students for the military. This program is offered at over 1,700 colleges and universities within the United States. The high school program, JROTC, and ROTC were provided with military training resources due to the National Defense Act of 1916, which allowed high schools and colleges to receive the necessary training and education necessary to join the armed forces and receive funding from single ROTC organizations.
Bianca Crawford, an MTSU senior in the ROTC program, offered insight on the ceremony and what it takes to win these types of awards.
“We recognized our fellow cadets with awards based on their high PT scores, good GPA and just being overall great leaders,” Crawford said. “With this ceremony and everything else we conduct in the ROTC program, we practice, practice, practice. We prepare, and we do. With the key leaders, (we) walk through it and make sure everyone is on the same page.”
Joakino Akeri, a biology major and senior at MTSU, said that it was a great honor to receive such awards.
“The ceremony was really impressive,” Akeri said. “It takes a lot just to be academically approved to be in this program and also to be recognized as something great.”
For more information on the ROTC program, click here.
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