Scholarship award presentation

Dzall

5-Year Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Messages
35
I received both an AROTC and a NROTC scholarship, and I chose the AROTC. My school has a scholarship ceremony of sorts where the students are recognized for their accomplishments. Should I invite both Army and Navy to come or just Army?
 
Similar issue with me.... I got an Army scholarship, and I've invited the VMI Alum in my area to present the ROTC scholarship to me at our awards night. However, I'm not really sure if he will have anything (paper, plaque, award) to present, other than just saying that I won the scholarship......

For you, I know branches like to use these nights to draw interest from younger kids that may be in attendance, so the Navy might be interested. Only one way to find out: Ask!
 
I'll Third that opinion, ask only the Army, you said no to the Navy so there's no reason for them to be there.
 
Similar issue with me.... I got an Army scholarship, and I've invited the VMI Alum in my area to present the ROTC scholarship to me at our awards night. However, I'm not really sure if he will have anything (paper, plaque, award) to present, other than just saying that I won the scholarship......

For you, I know branches like to use these nights to draw interest from younger kids that may be in attendance, so the Navy might be interested. Only one way to find out: Ask!

S&H, Contact your local brigade and ask them if they can send a representative. They have a nice presentation folder and certificate they present but you have to contact them to set it up.
 
S&H, Contact your local brigade and ask them if they can send a representative. They have a nice presentation folder and certificate they present but you have to contact them to set it up.

Just got word that my guidance office contacted Cadet Command, and they are sending a "uniformed officer" to present it to me. Sweet! So pumped for next Wednesday. :thumb:
 
DS just received an email from the closest enrollment officer to us - he has been tasked with presenting the "big check" and wanted contact info and the date and time of our Honors Convocation. He is a Major, so I am thinking he will be in uniform, right?
 
I think it is great that they are making a special event out of getting these scholarships. My DS missed out on all that by getting the sideload scholarship. Nothing special about it. All he got was an email from the captain. LOL. But I know that he was never so happy to get an email in his life as he was to get that one.
 
Surprised

I was rudely surprised last week when my DS school notified us that he could not have his AFROTC scholarship presented at senior awards day. It really caught me off guard. I'm glad to say that with several emails, phone calls and the help of a school board member, they decided to make an "exception". I'm still a little dismayed that they're considering an exception. He is having it presented by a retired Army major who has helped him along the way with both the AFROTC application and AFA.
 
Congrats to all! My DS received both AROTC and AFROTC scholarships. He accepted the AROTC and respectfully declined the AFROTC. His future AROTC PMS is coming from out of state to make the "big check" presentation at his Senior Awards Night. I believe he will be mailed a certificate from AFROTC, in recognition of his being awarded the scholarship.
 
I was rudely surprised last week when my DS school notified us that he could not have his AFROTC scholarship presented at senior awards day. It really caught me off guard. I'm glad to say that with several emails, phone calls and the help of a school board member, they decided to make an "exception". I'm still a little dismayed that they're considering an exception. He is having it presented by a retired Army major who has helped him along the way with both the AFROTC application and AFA.

Why did they not want to allow it? Our school has a rule where they don't allow any outside presenters. Also, they will only announce the scholarships that you are accepting and utilizing and they won't mention the dollar amounts of the scholarships.
 
On the one hand it is great and wonderful that our kids were awarded these scholarships. We are all very proud. However, our school typically only announces the school sponsored scholarships....which is a lot. Will my DS award be presented? I don't know....but if it is not, that is ok with me. The people important to us know. They know what he went through with his applications both for the scholarship and for USMA.
On the other hand, if they announce the ROTC scholarships, they should announce every other students merit scholarships. We have a small school, and that would take absolutely forever! I can't imagine that in a larger school!
 
+1 soccmomer.

I think it may all come down to the size of the school. Our kids class size was @300 and the awards ceremony took over two hours.
~~~ Typically for a ROTC presentation it is not thirty seconds of Sam Jones awarded 25k to Timbucktoo University. It is several minutes of selling the crowd, giving stats of how many applied, how much it is worth, how they will have a job as soon as the graduate. Honestly, part of this from the ROTC perspective is recruiting for the future.

At our DS's school, I think there were a total of 10 recipients, every SA had a student appointed, and then there were 2 AROTC, 2 AFROTC and 1 NROTC. Multiply that by 4 minutes each and you have 40 minutes added to the clock. As I said, our kids class size was 300. If the class size was 500 or 800 like the larger hs in our county it would be a 4+ hour ceremony.

Hence, why they may have decided not to include ROTC recipients. I know at the larger hs in our county, some actually do a private presentation during the day. These schools all have JROTC and all of the JROTC students are allowed to skip whatever class they are in for the presentations.

Thus, just that fact alone the recipients are the talk of the school because kids do talk, and the 1st thing they want to know is why are THEY allowed to be excused from chemistry, but we have to stay and listen to old Mrs Craggy drone on for the next hour?
Answer: Because they are attending the ROTC scholarship presentation.
It also makes it home to the folks.
Mom of 10th grader: How was school today?
Child: Great! I got to skip fourth period for the ROTC scholarship presentations.
Mom: What is that?

In both cases ROTC completed their true goal. Putting it out there that the military pays for college. Parents and families are happy because in their eyes their child has a moment in the sun. The HS is happy because their award ceremony has been reduced by about 45 minutes.

I will also add that the majority of kids that get AFROTC scholarships typically also get merit too, thus they will be recognized.
~~~ Our kids went to two different HS in two different states. For our DD's ceremony they did it differently than DS's. At her HS they called each student up alphabetically and announced all of the scholarships they received in one fell swoop. At DSs they went scholarship by scholarship, so his name was announced three times.

Just putting it out there of how every HS is different and they have been doing this for many years, as much as we want our children to have a moment in the sun, the true moment will be graduation.
 
When I was a GBR they sent me out to present scholarships at high schools. I gave a small speech and tried to crack a joke or two, fun times lol
 
My son goes to a small school. Three seniors won Army ROTC scholarships. Although nobody presented them with anything, a school employee had them stand up individually to be acknowledged and mentioned the school they each chose. She also mentioned how competitive the scholarship was. I thought it was nice that they were acknowledged. It's a big deal to get a scholarship for all 4 years.
 
Would anyone happen to know if the NROTC makes a good effort to make presentations at high school award ceremonies or does it require a request from a representative?
 
Would anyone happen to know if the NROTC makes a good effort to make presentations at high school award ceremonies or does it require a request from a representative?

DS was contacted by the NROTC representative shortly after getting the scholarship along with 7 others from our region. He presented my DS with a big ceremonial check and a backpack with NROTC loot at the senior awards night last Thursday. It was cool. :thumb:
 
DS "big check" presentation was arranged by his high school counselor and the local Navy recruiter. It was impressive and touching. At our high school they individually present each scholarship and make a pretty big deal about it. To start the awards ceremony, they mentioned that the total value of all the scholarship awards was $1.8 million. After the ceremony DS friend pointed out to us that DS scholarship value equaled 10% of the class total! (Note: of course at in-state public university DS is actually using a fraction of the $180,000 on the "big check".)
 
I'm thinking I may need to bring a cot to DS awards ceremony. His class is about 600 strong, and there are a LOT of high-achieving students at the school. His school has already contacted the LTC (ret.) awarding him with his scholarship to ask whether they will need time to speak at the ceremony. They said they wanted to make sure they provided them with enough time to do what they want to do for our son. The ceremony starts at 7pm, so I'm thinking we'll be going out for a midnight snack afterwards!

Good times!
 
Back
Top