President George W. Bush personally commissioned this group of ROTC graduates that included Southern Baton Rouge graduate Cedric Wright.

SU graduate among first selected for presidential commissioning ceremony

Assistant Secretary of the Navy William A. Navas, right, congratulates Cedric Wright on his Naval commissioning.

Recent Southern University graduate Cedric Wright did not have his Naval Commission concurred during Southern Baton Rouge Spring Commencement. Instead, he was among a special group of Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) midshipmen and cadets to participate in the first presidential ROTC Commissioning Ceremony.

Wright is a native of Riverside, Calif.

The group, representing all 50 states, 3 territories, and the District of Columbia, and two guests of each commissionee, was welcomed to the White House May 17 by President George W. Bush.

Each year, ROTC programs hold local commissioning ceremonies across the nation. These events celebrate both the end of undergraduate study and the successful completion of officer preparation provided by ROTC programs.

To help build broader public awareness and understanding for ROTC, Naval Service Training Command, the U.S. Army Cadet Command and Air Force ROTC Command jointly proposed in October 2005 that the President of the United States host a joint service ROTC officer commissioning ceremony.

Naval ROTC programs around the nation are creating superb naval officers to lead the Navy and Marine Corps team in the 21st century. Naval ROTC was established to educate and train qualified young men and women for service as commissioned officers in the Navy or Marine Corps. As the largest single source of Navy and Marine Corps officers, the Naval ROTC Scholarship Program fills a vital need in preparing mature young men and women for leadership and management positions in an increasingly technical Navy and Marine Corps. Upon graduation, Naval ROTC midshipmen are commissioned as Ensigns in the Navy or Second Lieutenants in the Marine Corps.

This ceremony takes advantage of new legislation giving authority to the president, vice president and secretary of defense to administer the commissioning oath of office.

The 16 Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) midshipmen honored are: (Navy) Joanna Bridge, The College of the Holy Cross; Meagan Kearney, University of Arizona; Peter Rusch, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Vu N. Chu, Illinois Institute of Technology; Michael Payne, University of Utah; Orin H. Council, University of Mississippi; Dillan Masellas, Maine Maritime Academy; Cedric Wright, Southern University and A&M College; Michele Dierks, University of Kansas; Paul Naumann, University of New Mexico; Colin C. Wu, Virginia Military Institute; and Gissella Martinez, Jacksonville University.

(Marines) Kimberly Megan Dawn Dupak, George Washington University; Christopher Hart, Miami University; Karl Kadon, University of Notre Dame; and Shane Waters, Vanderbilt University.

For more information on Naval ROTC programs, visit https://www.nrotc.navy.mil.

Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, center, is shown with the select class of Naval ROTC cadets chosen for the first presidential commissioning.