Southeastern ROTC Alumni to celebrate 50 years during Homecoming Week
Friday, September 20, 2019
by: Tonya Lowentritt
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University ROTC Alumni Chapter will gather during
homecoming week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the installation of the Army
Reserve Officer Training Corps program on campus. Scheduled Oct. 10 at Oak Knoll Country
Club, located at 45246 Country Club Rd. in Hammond, the celebration will begin at
6 p.m.
Tickets for the event are $40 and can be purchased online at www.southeastern.edu/rotcanniversary. The deadline to purchase tickets is Oct. 6.
Originally opened at Southeastern in 1969, the campus ROTC presence was closed
in 1995 due in large part to declining numbers and retrenchment by the military as
a result of budget constraints. It was re-instituted on campus in the spring of 2016.
The ROTC Alumni Chapter boasts approximately 330 current members, and raises
funds to provide scholarships for ROTC participants. The group has awarded three or
four scholarships each year for the past several years to students enrolled in the
ROTC program.
“To say the program is now on sound footing and growing would be an understatement,”
said Southeastern ROTC alumnus Gary Sandifer. “The quality of students who are cadets
has a positive impact, not only on campus economics, but also on the graduation rate.
The average cadet grade point average consistently exceeds 3.0.”
More than a thousand students are estimated to have completed the program since
its inception with 59 currently enrolled.
“The greatest impact Southeastern had on me never came out of a textbook,” Sandifer
explained. “Nothing prepared me better for the business world, the real world in organizational
skills, communication skills, and leadership skills than the SLU Army ROTC.”
Southeastern has been named a “Military Friendly School” by Victory Media for
the past seven consecutive years for demonstrating its commitment to assisting active
and reserve military service members in a wide range of areas.
For more information about the ROTC 50th Anniversary Celebration, contact Sandifer
at gsandifer@ft.newyorklife.com.