WASHINGTON (May 26, 2016)--Eleven students graduated from Howard University’s ROTC program this spring, the highest number in a decade.

Army Lt. Crede Lyons, Howard’s military science professor, says 10 cadets were commissioned just before the spring 2016 Commencement and two more—one already graduated—will receive their commissions this summer.  Three others were also commissioned this academic year in December 2015.

“I think that there's much significance to our commissioning ceremony  as Howard was founded by a Union general, Maj. Gen. Oliver Howard, with the blueprint of using Howard University as a national platform for commissioning black officers from its founding through the World War I era,” Lyons said.

For 2^nd Lt. Sheila Pierre, a physical therapy major (B.S. ’16) who has joined the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps, the road from her hometown of Orlando, Florida, to Fort Meade, Maryland, has also been roughly a decade in the making.

“I actually started Howard back in 2005, and then, because of health reasons, I had to leave Howard for a little while,” said Pierre. “But because of my diligence, I wanted to come back to school. I came back in 2008 [and] I joined the Army, so that I could pay for school.”

Second Lt. Jacob Bennett (B.A. ’16) was rated within the top 20% of more than 4,000 cadets being commissioned nationally this year, earning him the title of Distinguished Military Graduate.  Bennett, a communications major from Richmond, Virginia, was commissioned into the U.S. Army Signal Corps and will be stationed at Fort Hood, Texas.

He said he’s excited to begin his training over the next few months, which will end in a four-year assignment and ample opportunities for additional certifications in his field.

“I’ll be working with satellite equipment […], signaling communications and making sure that communication is working properly between battalions, between platoons, between units, so that all communications on the battlefield will go well.  It mixes really well for me, because, when I get out of the Army, Signal Corps is one of the most transferrable branches.”

This year also marks the 100-year national anniversary of Army ROTC. The Bison Battalion celebrated in April with an event on the Yard, featuring performances by the U.S. Army Drill Team and the Old Guard Fife & Drum Corps.

Second Lt. Loren Parker, a political science major from Baltimore, Maryland, soon to be stationed in South Korea as a human resources officer, MC’d that event.  She also found special significance in this year’s Commencement.

“I feel like I still can’t wrap my mind around it,” said Parker.  “It’s so important.  I often think of a statement in of the movie ‘Saving Private Ryan’—I know it seems kind of corny, but—at the end, when everyone dies to save Private Ryan, the captain says, ‘earn this.’  [And, I think to myself], ‘so many people have come before you to allow you to be in the place that you’re in.  Earn it.’  Having President Barack Obama come just makes me even more motivated.”

“This not only marks the year the commander-in-chief [addressed] the Howard University community,” said Lyon, “but it also marks the first year the Army has opened all of its combat arms branches to both men and women.”

The combat arms branches were historically only available to males prior to 2014, until U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta lifted a female-restricting ban in 2013, giving the military a 2016 deadline for implementation of the more inclusive policy.  Howard University's Army ROTC program commissioned Distinguished Military graduate Assia Richardson, its first female in the combat arms branch of Field Artillery, in 2014.

Richardson will soon be joined in the combat arms branch by two newly-commissioned Field Artillery Corps 2nd lieutenants—Terrisia Templeton (B.S. ’16) in psychology and Courtney Gaines (B.A. ’16) with an administration of justice degree.

With both of her parents having served in the military, 2^nd Lt. Ashlee White (B.S. ’16) of Baltimore, Maryland, felt her commissioning was both new and a continuation.  After high school, White’s parents, wanted her to sign up for basic training at first, but after she investigated Army ROTC offerings and first walked Howard’s campus, she decided on her current path.

“I think, a lot of times, we, as students, just do what we’re supposed to do to get things done,” said White. “But I think I really have to sit back and realize what I’m becoming a part of.  I’m becoming a part of something that’s a lot bigger than myself.”

Howard began organized military training of black officers in 1917, nearly 100 years ago.  An official ROTC detachment was created in 1918.  Since its inception, Howard Army ROTC has commissioned more than 1,000 officers.

Media Contact:  Stephanie Zerweck, stephanie.zerweck@howard.edu, 202-238-2442

(Pictured: Darryl Grandberry, Ashlee White, Terrisia Templeton, LeTasha McFarlane, Sheila Pierre, Loren Parker, Nasir Young, Joel VanKampen, Jacob Bennett, Courtney Gaines, Rebu Herring, courtesy of Justin Knight)