The university on the other side of the river and St. Edward’s University have little in common. However, for eight St. Edward’s students in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, more commonly known as ROTC, the University of Texas at Austin is part of their regular routine. These students are duel enrolled at UT Austin and St. Edward’s.  

“I joined because I needed structure at the time and I felt that I had a debt to repay to my country. My life had taken some bad turns then, and I knew I had to make a radical change if I wanted to make something of myself. The army turned out to be that change,” senior Michael Beiter said. 

UT Austin’s ROTC program is made up of students from UT Austin, St. Edward’s, Austin Community College, Huston-Tillotson and Concordia. After UT Austin, St. Edward’s has the most students participating in the program, which has 98 students in total.

To attract St. Edward’s students to the program, Recruiting Operations Officer Luis Sandoval said that the program attends and advertises at orientations and frequently has an information table in Ragsdale.

Sandoval said that ROTC prepares students for military and civilian duties and develops student’s life skills like decision making. “ROTC’s main goal is to train our Cadets to make the best decision with limited information and limited time. Our Cadets have to be confident in decisions they make,” Sandoval said.

Each semester, the students have to take a military science course that teaches different skills and aspects of the military, including leadership and military history and protocol. ROTC students also have physical training three mornings a week and have to pass long-distance running, push-up and sit-up tests.

“Above all, they teach you how to get stuff done,” junior James Kelly said.

Kelly joined ROTC during the Fall 2013 semester and was lucky enough to be contracted during his first semester. Contracted members receive a full scholarship for their respective university. In return, these members must commit eight years to the military after graduation.

Contracted students like Kelly will step into the post-graduate world as second lieutenants in the United States Army. Kelly wants to get active duty after graduation, but said it will be difficult to get that commission because it is many students’ preferred choice.

Beiter, however, wants to join the National Guard after graduation so that he can both serve his country and start his career in business. He is a double major in finance and accounting.  

After the Cadet’s junior year, he or she puts together a prioritized wish list of whether they want active duty, reserve or National Guard and what specific branch the student wants to work in. A few examples include: military intelligence, infantry and medical service corps.  Cadets across the country and in Puerto Rico are then ranked and commissioned based off of their GPA, performance and major; those majoring in science, technology, engineering or math have an upper hand. 

Kelly is not majoring in a STEM field but thinks his Spanish education major could help him depending on where he is stationed.

The complete list of St. Edward’s students in ROTC include:  Michael Beiter, Jean-Marc Choufani, James Kelly, Sarah Krueck, Mark Levine, Joseph Lutz, John Quinoes and Jaqueline Vergara.