ROTC student selected as award recipient

During her four years in college, courage, integrity, leadership and selflessness have helped senior Alison Hoffman succeed in nursing and in the Reserve Officer Training Corps.

“Those (qualities) are important to me in multiple ways,” she said. “I don’t really think about those qualities — they just flow from everything I do — but those qualities all help me achieve the goals I want. I want to care for people and be a great nurse.”

Because of those qualities, Hoffman has been selected as a recipient for the George C. Marshall Award for 2014.

“I was really excited when I found out I received the award,” Hoffman said. “It’s a really nice honor, and I will get some good experience at the conference.”

The George C. Marshall Award recipients are seniors who are selected based on scholarship, leadership, physical fitness and community involvement.

Those who are selected can then be chosen to participate in the George C. Marshall ROTC Award Seminar, where they participate in roundtable discussion with academic, military or diplomatic leaders.

Hoffman was nominated for the award by Lieutenant Colonel Ross Nelson, military science department chair at USD.

Nelson said he nominated Hoffman because Hoffman is an all-around good cadet.

“I write a personal letter, and when I do that I look at the cadet as a whole,” he said. “She does very well academically, she performs excellently in her leadership positions on campus, she went to camp a year ahead of most of her peers and she spent a summer in Hawaii at an army hospital. That’s why I not only recommended her for the award, but she’s also my cadet commander this semester.”

Junior Hilary Mettler, also a member of the USD ROTC program, said she was not surprised Hoffman received the award because of her hard work and dedication.

“Cadet Hoffman is a hard-working individual and very deserving of such an award,” she said. “A very small percentage of commissioning cadets receive this award, which makes it so much cooler that Cadet Hoffman was one of them.”

A senior nursing student at Mount Marty College in Yankton, Hoffman is a part of the ROTC program at the University of South Dakota.

“It’s a great partnership through Mount Marty. I love the nursing program at Mount Marty, and I go to USD for training events for ROTC,” she said. “I feel very connected with both school, and it’s a unique opportunity that I have — I have two different groups of friends and faculty I go to, and it’s very fun.”

Nelson said the award is a great experience for the cadets chosen as well as the department to have someone compete nationally.

“Not everyone who gets the award is invited to the conference,” he said. “The experiences they gain at the conferences can then be brought back here for discussion with their peers.”

Mettler said things like this make her proud to be a part of USD ROTC.

For cadets to get the opportunity to sit with three-star generals and state department officials to discuss what is currently going on with the government, Nelson said, is an amazing experience.

Hoffman said she is most looking forward to being able to hear other leaders’ points of view and being able to discuss national issues.

“I’m also hoping to bring to the table the medical aspect as a nursing student,” she said. “I’m almost graduated, and I’m excited to bring the medical aspect.”

Hoffman knew early on in high school that she wanted to be involved with the military, but she said she wasn’t sure which branch to join or how to go about joining.

“I found out about ROTC toward the end of my high school career and applied for the scholarship, but I wanted to do it because I wanted to be a part of a larger team,” she said. “I wanted to be able to get that great experience, and I like a challenge.”

Hoffman said she also knew early in high school that she wanted to pursue a degree in the medical field and appreciated the caring aspect she could gain from nursing.

Although Hoffman wasn’t entirely aware she was being nominated for the award, she said the support she has received was an honor.

“For people to recognize how hard I’ve worked academically, physically, mentally — just to know that I had been recognized was such an honor,” she said.