By SAMANTHA SALVIO AND
FRANCESCA FONTANEZ
STAFF WRITERS
[email protected]

There are over 1,000,000 Americans who serve as members of the U.S. Armed Forces, and of those, over 200,000 are Officers. The University of New Haven’s ROTC program is proactively serving as a center to train young adults to eventually join the Officer ranks after their graduation.

The Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps is a leadership program here at the University of New Haven. Through physical training, field training exercises, leadership labs and more, the cadets are faced with many challenges. Each cadet is expected to learn how to be a leader, encourage and motivate their peers, and eventually organize missions as an Officer within the United States Army.

Each Friday, the company is presented with new lessons via labs, which are relevant to their training. On Feb. 6, a presentation was given by Associate Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs, Dean Golembeski, and Director of Media Relations, Karen Grava, on how to properly carry out an interview with media reporters. After their presentations, the instructors then conducted mock interviews, so the cadets could experience first-hand what they had just learned.

In order to gain more experience with being on the “hot seat,” the Charger Bulletin was asked to interview a few select cadets (mainly the Sophomore Cadets, MSIIs) about their experience so far being in the ROTC program.

When MSIII cadet Andrew Howell was interviewed, he was a little stiff in the beginning but his answers were commendable. It was apparent that he had kept the lessons he had just learned in his head and was using each one during the round of questions. Many of Howell’s answers were short, sweet and to the point, although there was some desire from the interviewer for him to delve more into his personality. Despite his cold tone, when asked how he would persuade a potentially interested student to join the ROTC program, his answer did not lack sincerity.

“Although ROTC may be a lot of hard work, the rewards that you reap from this program far surpasses all the difficulties,” he said.

The interviewers asked generic questions about the lessons they received in regards to the media and the public view. As one interviewee answered, senior cadets would observe the simulation, in order to give the interviewee feedback on the quality of their answers. Many praises revolved around being able to take a breather to collect their thoughts and then provide an answer to a question or conveying their answers with genuinely. On the flip side, many cadets were called out for using fillers, such as “like” or “ummmmm,” and conveying their answers to be forced.

Through this process, the level of concern from their senior cadets was shown through a balance of praise and constructive criticisms.

Multiple cadets expressed during their interviews that the lab had been extremely beneficial to their overall preparation in regards to media presence, and appropriately responded to each question in a professional and meaningful fashion. After a few interviews, some senior members, known as MSIVs, expressed to the group to be aware of the balance between cadet and civilian. They added the importance of being personable, yet professional when being interviewed by the media.

Though the cadre had some critiques, one could infer that the company, as a whole, had grasped many new concepts, and applied them with ease when put to the test. Captain Ritchie challenged the interviewers to “dig deep and get the juicy details” from the cadets, but even through multiple attempts, the cadets kept their composure and deflected any uncomfortable questions well.

After some the initial jitters had passed and the cadets became more comfortable with the situation, some MSIVs requested that the interviewers again throw in “curve-ball questions.” When an unsuspecting MSI was asked how she suggested “Congress handle the wealth gap in America,” she took a moment to process the question, and replied that she was not qualified to answer that type of question confidently and respectfully.

Through this experience, it was nice to gain more knowledge about the ROTC programs here on campus and moreover, the students that participate in it.