Army ROTC looks to increase participation, visibility on campus

A short hike from the Grand Valley boathouse along the banks of the Grand River, a platoon of U.S. Army ROTC cadets from Grand Valley and other West Michigan colleges gathered on a mild and cloudy fall afternoon as part of their lab class on squad tactics. 

The sight of Grand Valley students in military uniforms on campus is more common this year, thanks to the coordinated efforts of GVSU’s Admissions and Recruitment office, the Office of the Provost, the College of Education and Community Innovation and ROTC leadership at Western Michigan University, said Billy Clayton, the scholarship and engagement officer at WMU's Department of Military Science and Leadership. 

"It's the openness that it's been at Grand Valley to help us promote the program that’s really helped,” Clayton said. “We just have had a bigger presence in the university's recruiting process, which also allowed us to put the message out. We were at every single orientation this summer and able to be on campus more.”

While GVSU students have been active for years in ROTC, or Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, they did face logistical challenges to their academic schedules. 

Western Michigan’s ROTC chapter serves as the host program for other schools across the western region of the state. Previously, if Grand Valley students participated in ROTC, they needed to travel to WMU’s Grand Rapids campus for their lectures. 

“There’s ROTC students at Calvin, Davenport and, of course, GVSU,” Clayton said. “When Western’s Beltline campus closed, we moved downtown. 

“We were always trying to figure out how we really wanted to grow the population at Grand Valley, and we knew that travel downtown was a barrier.”

As Clayton explained, there are three categories for an ROTC chapter — host, manned extension and crosstown partners. Congress appoints host chapters, Clayton said, but if GVSU can elevate its participation, it can be upgraded from a crosstown partner to a manned extension campus.

“At that point, Grand Valley would actually have its own stand-alone ROTC program separate from Western, and it wouldn’t be affiliated with anybody,” Clayton said. 

“Of course Western will still be there to support, but Grand Valley would have its own dedicated faculty, staff and other things to help an actual program at GVSU be its own.”

And, with Grand Valley’s largest incoming class of students this fall, Clayton and Lt. Col. Caitlin Hinterman, chair of Western Michigan’s department of military science and leadership, saw a prime opportunity to develop GVSU’s own ROTC unit. 

“It was reassuring to see so many first-year students interested,” Hinterman said. “It was untapped. We felt like the interest was there, but we had never been on campus before. GVSU is such a military-friendly school that we knew we had to be there.” 

The increase in visibility will undoubtedly play a large part in growing participation for the program, said Cadet Dylan Aubrey.

"What makes it so exciting is the visibility of ROTC is amplified which increases the amount of people that do it,” Aubrey said. 

“It also boosts morale because you get to interact and socialize. This is not like basic training. This is somewhere where we can go, and you can build friendships and make connections and overall make your college experience better.”

For more information on ROTC and its scholarship opportunities, visit the Army ROTC webpage.