BY JAVIER RODRIGUEZ
Senior Reporter
The ROTC program with the help of the SHSU military alumni group, “Sam Houston’s Own,” has established a new annual $1000 scholarship program that has awarded its first cadet recipient this semester.
The first recipient of the award is junior history major David Dekerlegand.
“He is an outstanding cadet,” said Major Christopher M. Wooten, medical service assistant professor of military science. “He is one of our best cadets and is a natural born leader.
“It’s fantastic winning this award” said cadet Dekerlegand, adding “this really is going to help me out with the difficulty of raising four children and going to school.”
Dekerlegand has served in the military for 10 years and has been enrolled in the SHSU ROTC program for a year now.
“A lot of ROTC Alumni from Sam Houston State University have recognized how important the military education we received at Sam really was,” said class of 74′ ROTC alumni, Robert Asher. “We wanted to help those students through our scholarship so they can share the same experience we did in the ROTC preparing us to serve in the military as well as other careers in our lives.”
The alumni group wished to give back to the program that has helped them develop and refine the skills necessary to prosper in their careers such as “working well with others, teamwork, self-reliance and having pride in what you belong too,” said Asher.
Every semester starting with the current 2006 spring semester, the ROTC selection board will be in charge of selecting candidates that have shown “the ability of being a strong leader and potential to become an excellent officer in the military,” said Wooten.
The candidate must also be enrolled in the ROTC program and have a cumulative GPA 2.0 minimum.
The selected cadets are then presented to the alumni group “Sam Houston’s Own” and will then be subjected to an interviewing process to look for the most qualified candidate.
The ROTC program also offers other scholarships and benefits for Army ROTC cadets two, three and four year scholarships that cover tuition and fees and annual book allowance.
If you are interested in becoming a member of the ROTC program at SHSU, visit http://www.shsu.edu/~mls_www, or call 1-866-877-ROTC for more information.