Going to Norwich was a dream that I had starting my freshman year of high school. I wanted to go into the military and be an officer to help families that have gone through similar hardships.
Growing up, my dad was away a lot and I had to understand that he was going to be gone protecting our country. With all that I had been through, I wanted to help other children get through what I had too. I joined the Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps to help guide me into that direction.
Unfortunately, I got injured my senior year of high school and was told that the military didn’t think it would be a good idea to sign up or get contracted. Then I believed since I was injured, it wouldn’t be right to join the corps at Norwich because then I wouldn’t have been able to go through rook week and do PT like everyone else.
Though I chose the civilian side of Norwich University, we still have the corps side that is rich in military history. Norwich takes pride in the way we represent our corps side because we are the home of Reserve Officer Training Corps. We, as a school, represent what is it like to have a military lifestyle. A lot of the students that are in the corps do not all get contracts to join but it gives us a sense of understanding of discipline and an idea if we want to join later in life.
In our school, we also have the opportunity to go to classes with students that are in the military and want to have a civilian lifestyle while they are at school. With this, we are in a school environment where it doesn't matter if you have a military contract or you are in the military currently you are still a student. The different lifestyles just dictates what you need to do to graduate. I know that a few students that have enlisted prefer to be on the civilian life style and then they can do their one weekend a month and they are okay with that. Norwich is the type of school where it doesn't matter why you went there but that its the experiences that you are learning along the way.
The Corps is a very important part to our history since Norwich is the birth place of Reserve Officer Training Corps but civilians are also making our mark here. Alltogether, Norwich is becoming a great school for all that want the discipline of the military without truly being in the military yet. This school is home for me no matter what. A person is a person at the end of the day and that is all that matters.
