ROTC cadets receive MSU Award of Excellence

MSU Army ROTC Cadets Laura Hanshaw and Samuel Rupert were recently awarded the MSU Award of Excellence for academic and personal achievement. The award is available to seniors who have a GPA over 3.5 and demonstrate campus leadership and community service. Students are nominated by a faculty member in their college or department. 

Hanshaw is a fifth-year senior who came to MSU after falling in love with the mountain scenery. The film “Iron Man” inspired her to study mechanical engineering as she wishes to build fantastical machines like the ones depicted in the movie. In the Army ROTC program, Hanshaw holds the role of master of fitness, a unit advisor on physical readiness issues and monitors the unit and individual physical readiness program. Once graduating, she plans on working in the aviation branch in the Army and hopes to fly Apache helicopters as a Second Lieutenant. “I love flying, and the Apaches are just such great machines,” Hanshaw said. “It’s a great way to use my degree to serve my country.”

Rupert is from Olympia, Washington and is studying history. He is currently in charge of supply which includes maintaining and acquiring equipment for the Army ROTC program.

The news of the award came as a surprise to both Hanshaw and Rupert, as neither of them knew they were being considered for it. “That was totally out of the blue,” Rupert said. “I didn’t even know about it, I got an email saying I had won this award.”

Rupert credits his achievement to the philosophy and the work ethic the Army ROTC has instilled in him. “At the end of the day, people are gonna respect you for the work you put in. That helped me within ROTC, when I think about how I wanna be better than I was the last time I did this. Another thing ROTC taught me is to think about what can I sustain, and what can I improve. Just always trying to build and make yourself better. That’s a big doctrine in the army,” Rupert said.

Hanshaw also described the effect the Army ROTC has had on her education, saying, “There’s a huge emphasis on grades and academic performance.”

Rupert and Hanshaw spoke highly about their experience in the Army ROTC. Both have traveled as part of the program, with Rupert visiting Fort Knox and Hanshaw traveling as far as Jordan and Europe to study Arabic and Russian, respectively. 

The cadets also volunteer and form the Color Guard ceremonies at football games and events.