Troy, N.Y. — In addition to taking on the task of a rigorous academic schedule, a select group of students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have also undertaken the rigorous preparation to serve their country. They are among the 36 Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) men and women who will receive their diplomas during Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s 200th Commencement on May 20, at 9:30 a.m. on the Harkness Field.  General Wesley K. Clark, one of the nation’s most distinguished retired military officers, will deliver the commencement address.

“It is with great pride that we are recognizing these officers as they are commissioned in service to our country,” said Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson. “These extraordinary men and women join the long and distinguished list of civil and military leaders who have graduated from Rensselaer.” 

The university will recognize its ROTC graduates at a joint services commissioning ceremony on Friday, May 19, at 8 a.m., in the Darrin Communications Center, room 308. The ceremony will honor students who have completed the appropriate ROTC programs while concurrently meeting the requirements for a baccalaureate degree at Rensselaer.

Rensselaer ROTC students transitioning into active duty include 19 Navy midshipmen, 11 Air Force cadets, and six Army cadets. Highlighted below are four among the outstanding Rensselaer ROTC students who will be commissioned this year.

Max Yates, Rensselaer’s 139th Grand Marshal, the highest elected student leader at the university, and a cadet in the Air Force ROTC, has been ranked among the top 20 Air Force ROTC engineering students in the nation by the Society of American Military Engineers. Yates, a dual aeronautical and mechanical engineering major, will be commissioned as a second lieutenant and begin serving his four-year military commitment as an aeronautical engineer at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The Butte, Mont., native aspires to become an astronaut and a U.S. Senator. 

Yates, who has won numerous prestigious service awards, including the United States President’s Student Service Award when he was in high school, has a long and impressive record of leadership and community service. In 2004, he established More Than the Mission, a campuswide volunteer network of ROTC and nonmilitary students who partnered with more than a dozen nonprofit organizations in the Capital Region.

Last year, under Yates’ leadership, the Rensselaer Student Senate established Project Hope to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. So far, the efforts have resulted in $28,000 with the goal of matching the Institute’s $35,000 donation.

To broaden his knowledge beyond his immediate engineering field, during his sophomore year Yates worked on a cancer drug alongside chemical engineers through a National Science Foundation internship at Montana-based Resodyn Corporation, an engineering and R&D firm.

Other notable accomplishments include induction into the Phalanx Honor Society, Rensselaer’s highest honor for student leaders. He also is a member of the Sigma Gamma Tau (national aerospace engineering honor society for students and professionals), Tau Beta Pi (engineering honor society for undergraduates), and Pi Tau Sigma (national mechanical engineers honor society).

Olivia Degenkolb, an officer candidate in Rensselaer’s Navy ROTC program, will be commissioned as an ensign and begin serving her six-year commitment as a naval flight officer in Pensacola, Fla., where she will attend flight school. Her potential assignments  range  from navigator and bombardier to electronic warfare technician. Degenkolb,  from Berkeley, Calif., aspires  to obtain her pilot license and to be stationed overseas. She plans on pursuing an advanced degree while in the Navy, with a goal of becoming involved in NASA’s space programs. 

Degenkolb, a dual nuclear engineer and engineering physics major, has already served the Navy for four and half years and competed for an opportunity to attend college while in her enlisted rank. The 24-year-old, who served as the Navy ROTC battalion operations officer while at Rensselaer, has worked at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit in Ballston Spa, N.Y., as a nuclear electrician and a training instructor. She has completed her degree through Rensselaer’s Navy Nuclear Program.  

Air Force Cadet John Smith, a biomedical engineering major with a concentration in materials, is the recipient of the highly selective, four-year Armed Forces Health Profession Scholarship. He will attend the Medical College of Wisconsin this fall, on a full scholarship. Smith, 21, from Tucson, Ariz., plans to do his residency in emergency medicine and serve in the Air Force as a flight surgeon. 

Smith recently received the RPI Board of Trustees Award, which honors a cadet for outstanding leadership and academic excellence. Smith, who served this semester as the wing commander, has won a number of ROTC awards for his military leadership, including the Meritorious Service Award and Commendation Award. He will be commissioned as a second lieutenant to start serving his eight-year military commitment.

Midshipman Amanda Drew, a 21-year-old mathematics major from Burke, Vt., will report for duty to begin her four-year commitment in the Navy as a surface warfare officer aboard the USS Nassau out of Norfolk, Va. Drew, who will be commissioned as an ensign, already has had a taste of what it will be like to be on a ship halfway around the world. Last summer, she trained aboard the USS Boxer in Australia.

Drew has received the Navy ROTC Community Service Ribbon for six semesters in a row for her outstanding volunteer work for a number of organizations and causes around the Capital Region, including Toys for Tots and Habitat for Humanity. In her hometown, she has helped coordinate Hand-in-Hand, a program in Vermont in which families volunteer to sponsor another family during Christmas by providing dinner and presents. 

Drew, who has been interested in working for the CIA since high school, is looking forward to traveling around the world while in the Navy.

ROTC Ceremonies
Following the May 19 joint services commissioning recognition ceremony, each ROTC branch will host its own ceremony at which the students will take their oath of office. That schedule is as follows: 

The Navy ROTC commissioning - May 19 at 10 a.m. in the West Hall Auditorium on the Rensselaer campus.

The Air Force ROTC commissioning - May 19 at 10 a.m. at Franklin Terrace, 126 Campbell Avenue, Troy. They will be joined by Air Force cadets from three other Capital Region colleges.

The Army ROTC commissioning - May 20 at 3 p.m. at Siena College Sarazan Hall, room 243.

Contact: Theresa Bourgeois
Phone: (518) 276-2840
E-mail: bourgt@rpi.edu