Going into college, Leah Johnson never thought ROTC could be an option for her.
Johnson, a sophomore architecture major and business minor, took ROTC classes her freshman year before falling in love with it and applying for a scholarship. Johnson will be finishing her fourth semester with ROTC and her third semester as a National Guardsman.
“In the later years of high school, I started to get the idea that, hey, this would be really cool,” Johnson said. “But it never seemed like joining the military in any capacity was going to be an option.”
After looking further into it, Johnson realized both ROTC and college could be possible.
“I think the stigma is you either join the military or you go to college,” she said. “It’s usually an affordability thing. Like, you can’t afford to go to college, so you join the military.”
ROTC does not equate to an automatic binding contract, and any full-time first or second-year students may take a ROTC class. The ROTC program trains 165 students under the Golden Eagles Battalion, where about 120 have some sort of scholarship
“If they decide they want to continue on and actually serve as an army officer after college, then they would be required to sign what we call a contract,” said Recruiting Officer Bill Terry. “Those last two years, the upper division classes is what gives them that commissioning credit to commission as an army officer once they graduate.”
ROTC students can also apply for scholarships through the program. Students have two categories of scholarships they can apply for: the ROTC National Scholarship Program or campus-based scholarships.
The ROTC National Scholarship Program offers either a four-year scholarship or a three-year advance designee scholarship, whereas campus-based scholarships offer financial support by covering fees like room and board
Johnson’s role as a National Guardsman means she gets her tuition covered. Additionally, she gets a monthly stipend for ROTC that goes towards room and board.
“You basically can get some of your housing paid for, and then also some of your meal plans,” she said.
Additionally, the stipend allows Johnson to put more focus on her academic studies.
“It takes the financial stress out of being here,” she said. “There’s obviously a ton of academic stress to go along with schooling, so definitely not having to worry about the extra payments and livability of the school year and focusing on academics is really the main thing.”
Johnson’s schedule keeps her extremely busy, but overall, she doesn’t mind.
“I don’t really have that much downtime,” she said. “And I’m someone who enjoys being busy, so ROTC, National Guard, architecture, all of it, is stuff that I enjoy, so the busyness isn’t as bothersome to me as it might be for others.”
Johnson said her schedule taught her more about herself than anything she learned academically.
“Honestly, learning how to manage my time has been a huge help to me,” she said.
Sophia Balough is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
