Monday, Oct. 19, 2009
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USU Army ROTC places at Ranger Challenge
By PETE P. SMITHSUTH photo editor
The USU Army ROTC team took third place overall in the men’s division for the annual ROTC Ranger Challenge competition in Colorado Springs, Colo. a week ago. With temperatures below freezing, the teams endured tough conditions while participating in several events, including written tests, land navigation, a rope-crossing course and a 10K ruck march. Cadet Ray Sullivan, one of the participants in the USU ROTC team, described the Ranger Challenge as an opportunity to interact with other ROTC cadets. “This is a competition that allows cadets to compete alongside with the best of the best,” he said. Twenty-eight colleges participated in the region including schools from Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. Local universities such as the University of Utah, Brigham Young University and Weber State University also competed. Sgt. Robert Roberts, who trained the cadets for the competition, said the USU team this year was mostly comprised of young cadets who have never participated in the Ranger Challenge prior to the competition. “We have two cadets who have participated before, but most of us, including myself, are doing this challenge for the very first time,” he
ARMY ROTC CADETS PRACTICE a field exercise in Logan Canyon. The ROTC team was one of 28 colleges in the region to participate in the Ranger Challenge competition. PETE P. SMITHSUTH photo
said. Roberts said the young team performed together exceptionally well and that he is impressed with the caliber of future officers at USU. Preparing for the challenge is rigorous, with cadets training up to six days a week. Running with full gear and practicing technical skills are only a few of the drills practiced
each week. “Doing the 10K ruck march involved wearing full battle gear weighing over 30 pounds,” Sullivan said. “It is one of the most challenging events to train for.” Besides physical skills, cadets were also trained to endure mental stress and to embrace teamwork. Roberts said the team performed
really well in these aspects during the competition. “No matter what positions they were in, the team kept a positive mindset the whole time. They were some of the best,” he said. The 14 cadets on the team met to practice for three and a half weeks prior to the competition. Sullivan said ROTC courses are
meant to train leaders. In addition, it reinforces one of the army’s seven core values: selfless service. “In extremely stressful situations, leaders are revealed,” he said, “but everyone understood to help others as a team and that the team is only as strong as its weakest link.” Over the course of the competition, the USU ROTC cadets competed well, though they did not win any of the specific events. “It took us by surprise but we all knew that we did really well to represent Utah State University,” Sullivan said. With this year’s competition, cadets gained a lot of experience. Roberts said he believes the team will be even more competitive next year. “We have set a good groundwork for next year’s team. I’m very excited for the future Ranger Challenge team,” he said. Roberts recently served as a platoon sergeant for the U.S. Army in Europe. During that time, Roberts was sure he wanted to be in active duty for the rest of his life but after working with the ROTC his opinion changed. “These are a great bunch of guys and if I get to work with such quality cadets day in and day out, I would stick around here if I could,” he said. – petesmiths@gmail.com
Enrollment up at USU’s Logan and distance campuses By CHRISTINA WRIGHT staff writer
During the third week of every semester, the Utah System of Higher Education counts the number of students at each university, gathering headcount data to be used for budget and planning purposes. For fall 2009, USU set an enrollment record of 25,065 students. Enrollment this year is up more than 1,000 students from fall 2008 and almost 1,500 students from fall 2006 and includes all students attending USU’s Regional Campuses and Distance Education centers (RCDE). According to USU’s Enrollment Summary Reports, the 11 percent increase in student enrollment at the RCDE sites is one of the biggest factors contributing to the record. USU’s regional campuses also set an enrollment record this semester at 11,207 students, which is also up over 1,000 students from last fall and nearly double the student headcount of regional campuses 10 years ago. Key to maintaining and growing such numbers are the efforts of the Office of Retention and Student Success. This office runs the Student Orientation, Advising and Registration program, or SOAR, which is required for all new students and introduces them to important areas of campus and to their advisers. But the real retention strategy begins with the voluntary University Connections program. Noelle Call, director of Retention and Student Success, said, “About 70 percent of SOAR students also participate in Connections. Connections is the initial retention tool—students’ questions are answered, they meet friendly people. The goal of Connections is to set up an atmosphere of ,‘You’ll like it here.’” The Connections program starts about a week before regular classes begin and continues about three weeks into the semester. Every week after that, Call said, students get e-mails from their assigned peer mentor, who is a trained member of the A-team. Every week all school year long, Connections students receive e-mails about everything from important dates on the academic calendar, such as the last day to drop classes without a fee and scholarship opportuni-
Inside This Issue
PETE P. SMITHSUTH photo illustration
ties. “At least one of these e-mails is personalized,” Call said. “At least once the peer mentor will ask something specific like, ‘How’s that math class?’” The personalized e-mails further the new name of the office – Student Success – as well as contribute to the feeling that a student at USU is more than just another face. Connections instructors also keep contact with their students, Call said. A new retention strategy adopted this
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semester is the Early Academic Alert program. Professors, mentors and the office of Retention and Student Success keep tabs on Connections students in their other classes and contact them if they have reason to be concerned. “Any student who gets lower than a B, we contact them to ask if they’re doing OK and to say that someone is concerned about them,” Call said. “Most students respond positively.” Statistics for the Early Academic Alert program are not yet available, partly because the program is new and partly due to the rolling
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nature of the process. Students may receive an e-mail, reply with a question or concern, receive another e-mail and send another one back, Call said, or they may take a few weeks to reply. But from looking at most of the e-mails, Call said she is confident that “considerable numbers of students respond positively” to the new set of follow ups. “These are all efforts to try to make sure students are having the experience they hope
- See UP, page 3
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