On Sunday, November 13, artist and art restorer Kateryna Dovgan will offer a Ukrainian Icon lecture at Mount St. Mary’s Knott Theatre in Emmitsburg for the benefit of Ukrainian war victims.
Ukrainian-born Professor Dovgan teaches art and art history at McDaniel College. The lecture will be held from 2:00-4:00 p.m., and a goodwill collection will be taken up. The public is warmly invited to attend.
Sponsors are the Town of Emmitsburg and the Mount St. Mary’s University Center for Service.
CPT David Ellington, Asst. Professor of Military Science at McDaniel College
As we enter a new year, we think about resolutions and all of the things that we want to accomplish. As a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Instructor, I think about what I want to emphasize to the cadets in my program, how we can best conduct training this semester, and how we can continue to attract quality cadets to our program. One term that has been echoed in ROTC recruiting circles is that we need to emphasize leadership. I think this is an interesting way to phrase what ROTC is because it sums up the core of what we are living and teaching on a daily basis. Accordingly, the goal of this article is to provide information about what Army ROTC is, what we do, and invite those who think they may have what it takes to become an Army leader to answer the call to serve their country by signing on with Army ROTC.
Army ROTC is the source of commissioning for a majority of officers serving today and has been for over one hundred years. The mission of every Army ROTC program is to recruit, train, and produce Second Lieutenants for the United States Army. In many ways, Army ROTC is like a sports team, with the goal being to prepare cadets to operate at the professional level. Less than one percent of Americans serve in the military; one in five of them serve as officers. Each year, there are over 20,000 Army ROTC cadets training on campuses across the country. Upon graduation, each will receive a commission into the United States Army, Army Reserves, or National Guard. Evaluative criteria for cadets is based on their grade point average, physical fitness ability, and demonstrated leadership as evaluated by their professors and peers. ROTC Instructors work with cadets on a daily basis to provide mentorship and guidance to facilitate their success.
While in ROTC, there are requirements both in and outside the classroom. With ROTC programs spanning the nation, each will be a little different, but there are a few things that are standard across the board. In the classroom, a cadet will learn about the Army, skills like map-reading, as well as tactics and leadership. Outside of the classroom, cadets will conduct physical fitness training and learn how to apply what they have learned in the classroom. Physical fitness training may consist of running around the campus and local area, intensive circuit workouts, or playing team sports like football or soccer. Field training exercises are used to give cadets the opportunity to practice and apply their tactical knowledge, land navigation, and survival skills in an austere environment. Typical field training exercises take place on military training areas close to the program’s university. As part of their training, cadets are involved in planning all training events with instructor oversite. The goal of classroom and field training is to educate cadets and prepare them to succeed in ROTC.
In addition to the on-campus training, ROTC also provides cadets with opportunities during the summer to shadow lieutenants across the Army, participate in internships with government organizations, attend military courses like Airborne School, and travel the world through the Cultural Understanding and Language Proficiency program (CULP). All of this is aimed at developing a well-rounded leader.
If you or someone you know is interested in Army ROTC, you can visit a ROTC program at any major university or go to www.goarmy.com/rotc.html. Instructions for how to apply for a full-tuition scholarship, how to join a ROTC program, and contact information are all easily accessible on the site.
If you are currently an undergraduate college student, you can join ROTC before your junior year by attending a four-week summer course that will serve to compress the training covered during freshman and sophomore year. College students who are already in their junior or senior year can still join ROTC, but will need to be accepted into a graduate program in order to allot them the time needed to complete ROTC training requirements. Many ROTC programs have Facebook pages and regularly post about ROTC activities and cadet accomplishments. There is no better time to take that next step than right now.
McDaniel College Cadets conducting a ruck march around the campus.
About the author: He received his commission in the Army from ROTC and has served for eight years.
Nicholas DiGregory
If you tuned in to Jeopardy! on December 3, 2015, you would have seen Rocky Ridge’s own Kelly Wright crowned a Jeopardy! champion. The twenty-six-year-old, who graduated from McDaniel College in 2011, earned a total of $7,700 in winnings, with a first-place victory on the December 3 show and a third-place victory on the December 4 show.
I had a chance to ask Wright a few questions about her experiences on the show; here is what she had to say:
How were you chosen to take part in the Jeopardy! game show?
I initially took the Jeopardy! online test in April of 2015 and found out I had an audition in early May. The audition was in Boston on June 10, so I flew up for the day and had my audition. It consists of another fifty-question test, and then you do a little mock game so they can find out if you’re going to freak out and pass out or anything like that once you’re holding the buzzer. Then there’s a little impromptu interview, so they can get a feel for the possible contestants. After all that, you find out that you’ll be in their contestant pool for the next eighteen months, and you may or may not hear anything back during that period. So I was pretty shocked when I got a call from them in late August that they wanted me to come out and play. I guess I figured it would be a much longer wait, if ever!
What was the game show experience like?
The whole experience was completely amazing, and it was a great day. They tape a week’s worth of episodes in one day, and the two challengers are drawn randomly. The other contestants sit in the audience and watch the taping, just like everyone else. Everyone who works at the studio and with the show, and the other contestants, were awesome; there wasn’t any real feeling of super competitiveness since I think we were all just stoked to be there. When I initially found out I was going to be on the show, I was kind of terrified, but once the day was actually happening, the contestant coordinators with the show do such a good job at keeping people calm, I was never really as nervous as I thought I would be. There were definitely some jitters once I was actually standing behind the podium, though!
Do you have any favorite memorable moments?
The best thing about going on the show was that my ninety-one-year-old grandfather, Horace Wright, got to come along and watch me play. He’s the one who really pushed me to try out for the game, and getting to make him proud was the best possible outcome. One other cool thing was, after the taping was done, I got to go see the RV from Breaking Bad that they keep on the Sony studio lot. I’m a huge fan of Breaking Bad, so getting to see that in person was a great finish to a fantastic day.
How was interacting with Alex Trebek?
The best stuff with Alex comes at the end of the show, when the contestants and him are standing on the stage, just chatting. That’s when you really get to find out that he has a hilariously dry sense of humor. During my first show, we all chatted a little bit about hockey and the then-upcoming NHL season, and during the second show, he gave me a little bit of ribbing about my bone-headed final Jeopardy answer, and it was hilarious. How many people get to say that Alex Trebek made fun of them?
Rumor has it that you wore a lucky t-shirt on air? Is this true and, if so, what was the significance?
So, when I auditioned for the show in Boston during the summer, I was wearing an Alex Ovechkin shirt under my auditions clothes for good luck. When I found out I was going to be on the show, I figured I had to up the ante and I ordered a shirt from “Russian Machine Never Breaks”—it’s a Capitals blog run by guys from Frederick—that commemorated when Alex Ovechkin famously acted like his stick was on fire after scoring his 50th goal of …the 08-09 season. I knew I wanted to rock the red under whatever I was wearing for the show, and I like to think it brought me enough luck to join the ranks of the Jeopardy! champions.
How has life been since the show?
Since the show, everything has gone back to normal, thankfully. The week leading up to my shows was absolutely crazy; so many people were wishing me good luck and things really blew up. I’m very grateful that I had so many people rooting for me, but I’m even more grateful that everything died down quickly as well.
Kelly Wright of Rocky Ridge, crowned a Jeopardy! champion, is pictured with Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek.
