Worcester Colleges Salute NROTC Students at Presidents’ Review

Crisp and polished, right down to the shine on their shoes, the midshipmen of the Holy Cross Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) gathered with their counterparts from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Worcester State College on April 17, for the Presidents’ Review.

Now in its 58th year, the Presidents’ Review is a tradition that allows friends and family to see their NROTC students in action at a formal event filled with all the pomp and precision one expects from a military event. According to commanding officer Capt. R. A. McNaught, it also “symbolizes the close and lasting bond between the Naval Service, the colleges and the greater Worcester community.”

Against a backdrop of patriotic music and long row of state flags, the students processed onto the Hart Center basketball court as a battalion, faced the assembled guests and stood in formation for the duration of the hour-long program. With members of the Holy Cross staff and faculty already seated among visitors from the local community (many clad in the decorations of their own military service), Cmdr. John Bishop announced honored guests to the review area. Three simple notes from a boatswain’s call sounded as representatives from each of the NROTC’s three member institutions took their seats. Holy Cross president Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., joined Janelle Ashley, president of Worcester State College, and Lance Schachterle, associate provost for academic affairs at WPI.

As the battalion remained at ease but in formation, guest speaker Col. Robert T. Durkin, commanding officer of the 25th Marine Regiment, recounted lessons learned in a life of military service. Col. Durkin’s Marine Corps career includes tours of duty in Haiti, Japan, the Middle East and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He has trained in Quantico, Va., at the School of Advanced Warfighting, as well as at the City University of New York, where the Brooklyn native received his master in public administration. With a slew of medals and honors, represented by a block of ribbons that barely fit on his uniform, Col. Durkin regaled the audience and students with stories of everyday heroic events in times of war, and congratulated them on the rewarding path of service to country that they have chosen.

Finally, individual NROTC students marched up to receive special honors for service, academic fitness, leadership, and other military traits. Midshipman 1/C Jeanne Coppa ’09 accepted one of the first of the 45 awards given that afternoon, the NROTC Holy Cross Outstanding Midshipman award, presented by Fr. McFarland.

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Pictured: Jeanne Coppa '09