Although this campaign has concluded, it's easy to give to Ohio University and support the Army ROTC Endowment Fund.
Army ROTC at Ohio University has enjoyed a history of excellence since the program began in 1936.
The Bobcat Battalion won the 2017 McArthur Award for being one of the top eight ROTC programs out of 275 programs in the United States. Plus, cadets in the Bobcat Battalion Army ROTC Ranger Challenge Team have demonstrated their military knowledge, physical abilities, and mental agility by earning third place at the Bold Warrior Challenge at Fort Knox, Kentucky each year for the past three years.
OHIO's Army ROTC provides a robust training program, considered one of the best in the nation. Nationally, about 40 percent of Army ROTC Cadets go on to earn an Active Duty commission after graduation from college, but 60-70 percent of Bobcat Battalion graduates typically go on to become Active Duty Officers when they graduate from OHIO.
Today, the program boasts more than 130 cadets with an average graduation of 23 per year (far above similarly sized public schools). The Army leans on this program to help achieve its commissioning mission each year. A large percentage of each Senior Commissioning Class is designated as Distinguished Military Graduates. This means OHIO cadets consistently graduate in the top 20 percent of all AROTC cadets in the nation.
Established several years ago, the Army ROTC Endowment Fund is designed to create an ongoing funding stream for Army ROTC cadet services and support. Your contribution will be joined with others to assist members of the battalion each semester who may not have enough educational benefits to complete their degree or who may be experiencing one-time financial difficulty.
President of the Ohio University Army ROTC Society of Alumni and Friends, Cappone is leading the way by offering to match each dollar raised with a $.50 contribution for the first $2,000 in gifts.
“We stand on the shoulders of many Bobcat Battalion alumni who came before us and I challenge my fellow Bobcat Battalion alumni to join me in supporting the Army ROTC Scholarship Fund. Giving back will provide future cadets with the same opportunities and education that we benefited from as cadets in the Army ROTC program at OHIO. The leadership skills and experience I gained as an OHIO Army ROTC cadet served me well throughout my Army career, and also helped prepare me to teach and lead others in the years following my military retirement."
— Retired Colonel Mark J. Cappone joined the Ohio University Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs as a Senior Executive in Residence in 2020 after more than 25 years of military and government service.
This fund will assist the battalion in providing world-class experiences to our cadets — and continue the legacy of the program's excellence which dates back to 1936. Together, we can all make a difference for future and current cadets, like Cadet Jahmir King who shared, "From day one, I started to realize and see the commitment everybody has to becoming the best leader possible. All of our cadre strive to produce the best cadets possible. All this hard work and dedication is what sets our program apart from others. We are all committed to not only our country and program but, each other as well.”
Your gift will help us reach our long-term, milestone goal of $100,000 where proceeds will have a transformational effect on the program.