The NROTC Summer time Seminar program, which held its inaugural session final June on the Villanova College campus, was modeled off the curriculum and occasions established by the USA Naval Academy for potential college students in Annapolis. The four-day seminar supplies rising highschool seniors a greater understanding of the steadiness between faculty life and the pains and necessities of an NROTC dedication.
“This program is an excellent alternative to reveal these with a propensity for army service to expertise life as an NROTC Midshipmen, whereas displaying them what makes the Villanova neighborhood so particular,” stated Marine Corps Col. Vincent Ciuccoli, Commanding Officer of the Philadelphia NROTC Consortium and a 1994 Villanova graduate. “Some very engaged alumni introduced the concept ahead and with total recruiting numbers sagging nationwide, and we thought it was time to be extra proactive and do our half to reveal extra individuals to the unbelievable alternatives NROTC can present. It was solely due to the nice help from management at our host establishment that we had been in a position to design and execute such a one-of-a-kind summer season program. For thus many of those college students, it’s ‘Naval Academy or bust.’ This seminar exposes one other path to changing into a naval officer whereas getting a fantastic training at a prestigious college.”
Villanova NROTC determined to experiment with this explicit type of outreach and training to tell college students about NROTC and the advantages of scholarships and different coaching alternatives. Present workers and alumni – cognizant of the dropping recruiting quantity nationwide and at Villanova – started the planning for the inaugural seminar in 2021. They collaborated over the course of ten months to construct this system.
Greater than 50 college students utilized from throughout the nation for admittance into the primary seminar final 12 months, with the ultimate 32 individuals chosen primarily based on their complete health – ethical, psychological and bodily – via their junior 12 months in highschool, just like how service academies and ROTC models choose college students for admission.
The scholars obtained 4 days of worthwhile perception into the rigorous tutorial research and the bodily health required to acquire a NROTC scholarship, in addition to worthwhile info on find out how to achieve entrance right into a prime tier college. They obtained excursions of the college, met with present professors, and interacted at size with present NROTC midshipmen and not too long ago commissioned graduates, who had been primarily answerable for the whole lot of the coaching program. The scholars additionally had the chance to listen to from the Father Peter Donohue, Villanova College president.
“For his or her first time doing this system, they’ve a beautiful illustration of women and men from throughout the nation,’ stated Fr. Donohue final 12 months. “Villanova is inspiring them to ignite change!”
The aim of the NROTC Program is to coach and practice certified younger women and men for service as commissioned officers within the Navy’s unrestricted line, the Navy Nurse Corps and the Marine Corps. As the biggest single supply of Navy and Marine Corps officers, the Naval ROTC Scholarship Program performs an vital position in getting ready mature younger women and men for management and administration positions in an more and more technical Navy and Marine Corps.
This 12 months’s seminar will probably be held June 18-22 at Villanova College. Eligible rising highschool seniors can apply by visiting: https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/nrotc/summer-programs.html
