Air Force ROTC cadet to study in China

Cadets Matt McGee '17 and Jennica Egan '15 describe the opportunities and experiences they have had as members of the ROTC at Cornell.

One day, Matt McGee ’17 plans to be developing political or military strategies, gathering intelligence or negotiating on behalf of the United States at a table somewhere in Asia. To prepare for that job in foreign affairs, McGee – a cadet with the Air Force ROTC unit at Cornell – was recently awarded a Global Officers Scholarship to study in China this summer.

Also awarded summer positions were Cornell Air Force ROTC cadets a Jensen Cheong ’15, who will study in Korea, and Jennica Egan ’15, who received a National Reconnaissance Office scholarship to work in Washington, D.C., on space-borne reconnaissance work.

McGee, a China and Asian-Pacific Studies major from Virginia who has a full ROTC scholarship to Cornell, will spend 12 weeks in Tianjin, China, studying Mandarin language, culture and Chinese traditions. He will also take a course about the erhu, a traditional Chinese instrument.

He will live in a dormlike setting with other U.S. students, some in ROTC programs and some not.

The trip abroad for language immersion isn’t McGee’s first. In high school, he taught himself Russian, “mostly by reading books, listening to music and watching Russian television,” McGee said, then he spent the summer before college in Russia, becoming more proficient in the language.

Lt. Andrew Volkening, McGee’s Air Force instructor, said McGee shows the independence and curiosity important for an officer.

“We are not ‘copy and pasting’ new officers here,” Volkening said. “We want our cadets to be independent thinkers who challenge us, ask tough questions and can think on their feet.”

Becoming a member of Cornell’s Air Force ROTC made sense, McGee said, because of his language interests and the benefits the program offers for him.

Along with language immersion, other ROTC summer programs offer students the chance to shadow officers at military bases, field training and leadership skills. Successful ROTC cadets graduate as officers in the military and can enter a diverse array of positions in bases across the world. Officers can also earn advanced degrees during their assignments. For example, Lt. Kevin O’Brien, admissions officer for Cornell’s Air Force ROTC, is working on his master’s in mechanical engineering while stationed at Cornell.

Cornell’s Air Force ROTC detachment also includes students from Ithaca College, Elmira College and State University of New York campuses in Binghamton and Cortland, O’Brien said. Cornell also has Army, Marine and Navy ROTC programs.

“Cornell has the longest standing relationship with ROTC of any Ivy-league school,” O’Brien said. “In fact, during World War I, Cornell gradated more military officers that any other university, including West Point and other military academies.”

Weekly ROTC commitments include morning exercise sessions; a one-credit class for freshmen and sophomores and three-credit class for juniors and seniors; a leadership/training session and special training such as in water survival, small unit tactics and orienteering.

The academic classes are open to all students and often include political science or government majors interested in military history and strategy, O’Brien said.

“As a cadet, you’ll form a tight-knit community of people who have similar values and interests,” O’Brien said. “They’ll become your lifelong friends.”

To learn more about Cornell’s Air Force ROTC program, visit www.afrotc.cornell.edu.

Kathy Hovis is a staff writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.