NSU will begin the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program in Fall 2019. Students will have the opportunity to participate in two to four year programs to receive a minor in military science leadership (MSL), complimentary to any other major offered. Scholarships are also available for students who participate in the ROTC. After graduation, students will get a commission in the army, including the army reserve, active duty or the national guard. Across the nation, the Army ROTC has commissioned more than half a million officers and is the largest commissioning source in the American Military.
“The first two years are kind of like getting your foot in the water. Those first four classes you take freshman year are kind of like feeling it out. You would learn basic saluting, a little bit of history behind the military, basic facing movements, some PT (physical training) — but there’s no commitment. If you realize a year or a semester or two years into it that this is not for you there’s no commitment,” said Nick Pascucci, a coordinator for the ROTC program at NSU and director of Razor’s Edge Research. “Going in to your junior year, if you’re not prior service, you will be required to go to basic camp. Basic camp is where you’ll be taking what you learned in your core curriculum and putting it to the test.”
After basic camp, students will go into the minor to learn more leadership skills. The summer before their senior year, ROTC members will go to a competition camp where they will work to get into the top percentage of cadets in order to get their top choice of missions, units, jobs and more. It comes down to physical fitness, leadership skills and other factors.
“ROTC is our country’s premier leadership program. I don’t think you can get any better leadership experience than through the military. It’s an opportunity for our students at [NSU] that are going to be academically sound and… civically engaged to propel that to the next level,” explained Matt Chenworth, a coordinator for the ROTC program at NSU and director of veteran affairs. “It not only gives them the minor in military science, but during the week they will participate in physical training, during the summer they will participate in military drills, they get to go to different camps, and they get to actually put the information and curriculum to practice.”
The minor in military science leadership (MSL) includes courses such as leadership in problem solving, officership and United States military history. Before committing to the program, students will take four classes encompassing leadership and teamwork.
“The military instills discipline. It teaches you how to be self-disciplined. When you go through something like ROTC, you’re not an individual— you’re a team,” said Chenworth of the course load and managing time while in the program. “So most of these things, added course work, physical training, you’re not doing this by yourself, you’re in a community.”
Requirements to join the ROTC include being a U.S. citizen between the ages of 17 and 26, having a high school GPA of at least 2.50 and a high school diploma or equivalent, scoring a minimum of 1000 on the SAT (math/verbal sections) or 19 on the ACT (excluding the required writing test scores), meeting physical standards and agreeing to accept a commission and serve in the Army on Active Duty or in a Reserve Component (Army Reserve or Army National Guard).
If students are unsure about the program, they are encouraged to visit NSU’s veterans resource center on the second floor of the Rosenthal Building. Additionally, they are able to take the first two years of the curriculum without any full commitment.
“We have over 700 students at NSU who have already served, and we have students from the bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. programs. They have the opportunity to not only find out about the ROTC from some people who have already served, but they also get to ask questions face to face with other students who are in classes with them,” said Chenworth.
Graduate and undergraduate students who are interested in joining NSU’s ROTC are encouraged to visit nova.edu/veterans/rotc and www.goarmy.com/rotc for more information about the program and to reach out to Pascucci at npascucci@nova.edu to get involved for the Fall 2019 semester as soon as possible.
