Prospective ROTC Doane students meet with military personnel about the ROTC program.
The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) visited Doane last week on Sept. 5. The ROTC program for Doane was on hold for a year because the current members graduated, but now there is renewed interest and a new push here at Doane University for it to return.
The ROTC program at Doane is a part of a larger ROTC program in Nebraska, which has six schools in its network currently. The program also has over 100 cadets.
“ROTC builds leaders of character,” Lieutenant Colonel and Professor of Military Science Tom Slykhuis said.
One of the things that the members highlighted was that people from ROTC and the Army came from all walks of life.
This ROTC program is a part of the Army branch, but there exist other forms of ROTC for the other branches. All of these ROTC programs in Nebraska have headquarters at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (UNL).
Three active members in the military came to Doane: Slykhuis, Cadet First Sergeant and junior at UNL Batista and Sergeant First Class Steven McCoy. These three members of the military met prospective ROTC students freshman Landon Amundsen, freshman Cam Wiese, freshman Lauren Garcia and freshman Cana Whitney.
Right now, the freshmen can take a class that gives the basics of military time, hierarchy and other essential military information. For ROTC, students do not need to sign any contracts until they become juniors or seniors in college.
If a student contracts with ROTC, they get a $420 stipend every month for the 10 months that school is in session. Also, ROTC will provide a full ride to Doane University if a student wins a national competition.
