I am pleased to announce the creation of our own team of writers here at The Citadel for Odyssey. This will provide an opportunity for cadets to have their voice heard outside of our small campus reach. Writing for Odyssey will also allow cadets to further develop writing and critical thinking abilities, and there will be an executive staff of cadets to oversee the progress. Good leaders are able to effectively share their thoughts, and we hope to start a tradition of writing articles that challenge our readers to think and act in a manner that is moral and right. We will address any number of topics both related to our lives here at The Citadel and on current events and stories occurring worldwide.

We are still assembling our team and we hope to develop one that includes representation from all four classes and all five battalions. If you would like to join our team, take a few moments to fill out an application at theodysseyonline.com/apply.

In our world today, writing is an often ignored and forgotten art. Those of us who are a part of this team wish to make it clear that we value well written work and we are grateful to the staff at Odysseyfor affording us the opportunity to publish our articles. In doing this, they are giving us the opportunity to develop our writing abilities and refine our thought process so that we can be at the cutting edge when it comes to our ability to keep written records.

Every day in class I am reminded that I will need to be able to write for whatever job I have in the “real world.” Odyssey provides another venue for cadets to practice their writing so that we can be more effective leaders in industry and in the military.

The use of texting and the many abbreviations that have come with it have led to a significant decrease in the grammar abilities of students and adults everywhere. One of our aims on this team is to preserve proper grammar and spelling. There will be the occasional use of slang or something informal, but it will of course be in the right context and not the norm. At a place as historic and traditional as The Citadel, we plan to continue the tradition of writing that goes back thousands of years.

As cadets at a military college, there are few people out there who truly understand who we are and what we are about. First off, it is important to remember that we are college students, just like anyone else. Our first priority is passing our classes and figuring out what we want to do after graduation. Many of us will take our place in the United States military, but others of us will take off the uniform for the last time when we walk out of The Citadel’s gates after graduation. On top of having to deal with the pressures of regular college students, we worry about keeping shiny shoes and belt buckles, passing the physical fitness test, and carrying ourselves in a way that we stand out. We aren’t perfect, we screw up and make bad choices, cause remember we’re college students just like anywhere else. Our hope is that through our writing you can get a better picture of that and maybe some of the other aspects of life in the barracks that makes our college experience different.