Awards Night

kaylasmom

5-Year Member
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Feb 9, 2010
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My daughter's high school awards night was last night. The school she will be attending (Ga Southern) is more thant 3 hours away, so someone from a local school was there to present the scholarship, Captain Marcus O'Neil from Ga Tech.

He brought down the house. Because her high school is unfimiliar with the scholarship, it was listed as an award, the first thing he did was clarify that is is not an award but a scholarship. He then called my daughter up, and he gave EVERY detail what the scholarship covers. He stated the amount of the stipend and it goes up each year, he went on to say that once she completes school how much her annual income would be. He stated she would be allowed to study abroad free of charge. Capt O'Neil did an outstanding job.

After the awards night was over he even told my daughter if she has any questions about anything please give him a call.

She received a standing ovation!!!!! The crowd went wild. She also received several marriage proposals. Parents around me that were unaware she was my daughter was so excited for her and her parents, (of course I let them know she was my daughter) It was amazing!!!!!:thumb::thumb::thumb:
 
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Your story brought tears to my eyes. How nice for your daughter and the whole family. :thumb:
 
Congratulations to your daughter. Doubtless it will be a memory she will treasure.

Unfortunately, not all high schools are willing or able to acknowledge this achievement. Having read about these events on the ROTC boards, I contacted the awards night coordinator at my son's school. In order to make sure the ceremony doesn't take more than two hours, there is no room for an ROTC scholarship presentation.
 
I agree..that is so not right. Too much hard work was put into that and it should be recognized.
 
Initially the high school counselor told my daughter she would not be recognized and they did not know who to contact.

I contacted the counselor explaining how important this was, got in touch with Ga Southern, who told me Ga Teach already had it on their calendar.

By the way does your son's high school recognize other scholarships on awards night?
 
How fantastic! What a special night for your daughter and your family! Congratulations and good luck to your daughter!

A member of the ROTC cadre at a college 2 hours away drove over last week for my son's award night. It was not only listed in the printed program with a dollar amount, but my son was presented with a huge "check" with the amount on it.
He would have loved to have kept the check, but it's erased and used again.

It was something to hear the audience gasp at the amount and then have people congratulate him.

His JROTC awards banquet is tomorrow night and it will be brought up there again. It's a big night for his JROTC battalion as they will be announcing that 3 kids got the AROTC award and 1 got a NROTC award.
All 4 kids are friends so it's going to be a wonderful night.
 
Kaylasmon,

Congratulations to your daughter. It is a great achieve to earn these scholarships. This is just a geat story. I am sure your beeming with all kinds of pride and with a big smile. Always remind her of the response she received and to never forget it, never give up, never. She has worked to hard for this.

Tell her from me thanks for serving our country, I will sleep better know that she has made a committment, to serve others and to defend freedom.

God bless and God Speed,

RGK
 
That's fantastic, Kaylasmom!!! Sounds like Capt. O'Neil is a real class act!

Our son's award's night is 05/27. I can only hope that it goes half that well. The last I heard from guidance and nis NJROTC instructor is that they were coordinating with the Navy for a rep to be present. Maybe I'll poke them again. I don't want to be a nudge, but not being recognized would just be so sad. The thought of a school not having the time to present an ROTC scholarship, is just heartbreaking.
 
Congratulations to your daughter. Doubtless it will be a memory she will treasure.

Unfortunately, not all high schools are willing or able to acknowledge this achievement. Having read about these events on the ROTC boards, I contacted the awards night coordinator at my son's school. In order to make sure the ceremony doesn't take more than two hours, there is no room for an ROTC scholarship presentation.

My daughter's high school didn't acknowledge it at her awards' ceremony, either. And we're in driving distance from GA Tech, too! She was acknowledged at her MCJROTC banquet but there wasn't a rep from the Army there. :frown: Glad it worked out for your daughter!
 
My awards night is this upcoming Monday and a MAJ from Notre Dame's Army ROTC will be there to present me with my scholarship. I live in Michigan, and I recieved the scholarship for Arizona State. So when I heard that Notre Dame would be there to present the scholarship I was extatic. I interviewed with ND even though they were not one of my choice schools and I was very pleased with the help they have provided me. I can't wait for Monday to see the MAJ at awards night.
 
The Marine are Here

Last Monday Night at our HS awards ceremony, there was a Marine Captain and a Staff Sargent who went up on the stage. The Commissioned Officer read the backghround of the selectionprocess and the overall requirements and competitive nature of the selection.

It was cool when they said "and only one in this area has been selected..." and said our S's name.

The Captain came from Nashville , about a 2 hr drive.
 
Any ROO worth his salt

Enrollment Officers are expected to make these presentations, so if you are getting one, start with the school you are going to, or the school closest to you. Contact the enrollment officer, and let them know you'd like to be recognized at your school. Sometimes we don't know you are supposed to get one, so give us a heads up if you don't think we are tracking. Where I'm at (Up-Upstate New York), I'm going to take every opportunity to advertise this award/scholarship in my territory, whether you are coming to my school or not. last week i attended JROTC awards night at Carthage High School in New York and recognized 9 Army and one Air Force cadet. (Air Force really wasn't interested in attending, but I had them covered:smile:). I'll be back in two weeks to recognize the same winners in front of the entire schools awards night (two for the price of one). Hope you all get recognized...you deserve it.

Congrats to all the winners!
 
Enrollment Officers are expected to make these presentations, so if you are getting one, start with the school you are going to, or the school closest to you. Contact the enrollment officer, and let them know you'd like to be recognized at your school. Sometimes we don't know you are supposed to get one, so give us a heads up if you don't think we are tracking. Where I'm at (Up-Upstate New York), I'm going to take every opportunity to advertise this award/scholarship in my territory, whether you are coming to my school or not. last week i attended JROTC awards night at Carthage High School in New York and recognized 9 Army and one Air Force cadet. (Air Force really wasn't interested in attending, but I had them covered:smile:). I'll be back in two weeks to recognize the same winners in front of the entire schools awards night (two for the price of one). Hope you all get recognized...you deserve it.

Congrats to all the winners!

I received a call from the PMS asking whom at goaliegirl's school handles the awards and although the unit won't be sending a representative (1000 miles from goaliegirl's school) they indicated that they will have someone from a nearby unit (UNH an hour away, I'm guessing as she is in central NH) present the award at her awards night.

And from goaliegirl's recollection of past years, every service with a ROTC scholarship recipient has made it a point to send an officer to awards night.

And thanks for being here. Nice to see unit officers here.

And BTW, goaliegirl liked Clarkson and the surrounding area when we toured there a couple years ago.

I agree that all recipients should be recognized for their achievement and their committment to serve.
 
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My daughter's high school didn't acknowledge it at her awards' ceremony, either. And we're in driving distance from GA Tech, too! She was acknowledged at her MCJROTC banquet but there wasn't a rep from the Army there. :frown: Glad it worked out for your daughter!

GAMCJRITCMOM: What school is your daughter going to?

We emailed the POC at the school my daugher will be attending back in April regarding awards night. He copied us on the emails being sent to Ga Tech informing us that someone would be there.

Believe me today at school more people were discussing my daughter's scholarship than who the valedictorian/salutatorian is.
 
I just had my awards ceremony last night, and my ROO, a Sergeant Major, was there to present me with the huge check. I'll have to say, I believe I had the biggest smile I've ever had when I was walking up to the stage.:biggrin:
 
I just had my awards ceremony last night, and my ROO, a Sergeant Major, was there to present me with the huge check. I'll have to say, I believe I had the biggest smile I've ever had when I was walking up to the stage.:biggrin:

Congratulations!
 
Congratulations to all of you! You deserved to be recognized. It's a shame that some schools do not recognize the ROTC scholarships. Our school doesn't either. They tend to think of it as a school scholarship and feel that if they have to recognize 1 person's scholarship, then they have to recognize everybodies..... sorry, but ROTC is not just a 'scholarship'. But hey, go ahead, recognize ALL of the full tuition scholarships. Should add another 5 minutes to the program.

When younger son was not recognized at school for his AROTC sholarship, the officers arrived at the restaurant where we were having his grad dinner and made the very loud announcement and speech of accomplishments... Big surprise for son and friends were amazed. The restaurant went wild!
 
GAMCJRITCMOM: What school is your daughter going to?

We emailed the POC at the school my daugher will be attending back in April regarding awards night. He copied us on the emails being sent to Ga Tech informing us that someone would be there.

Believe me today at school more people were discussing my daughter's scholarship than who the valedictorian/salutatorian is.

Well - that may be the problem then. Still haven't nailed down the school she's going to. We had a glitch with her first choice school.

I'm glad so many have had that experience! Congratulations to everyone!
 
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