Running sprints up Libe Slope early on a cold Monday, as thunder rumbled and a downpour began, Samuel Rabin ’25 felt a moment of disbelief – why are we doing this? – along with determination to persevere through the extreme conditions.

“I wanted to set an example and help motivate others,” Rabin, the outgoing cadet commander of Cornell’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Tri-Service Brigade, recalled of that morning during his junior year. “You want to be up front, showing that if people are still going up the slope while it’s raining and wet and cold, then you can, too.”

Rabin now remembers the rain-drenched physical training as one of the formative and uniquely Cornell experiences that helped prepare him to become a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army – a rank formally bestowed during a commissioning ceremony in Alice Statler Auditorium on May 23.

In total, 26 graduating brigade cadets and midshipmen – including 20 members of Cornell’s Class of 2025 and peers from other area institutions – received commissions as second lieutenants or ensigns in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Space Force.

Credit: Devin Flores/Cornell University

“Continue to lead from the front,” said Rabin, an ILR School student from Syracuse, New York, who will soon begin training at Fort Benning, Georgia, in congratulating his classmates. “Set the example and be the officer that your future soldiers, marines, airmen and guardians deserve.”

After family and friends pinned rank bars on their uniform shoulders, each commissioning graduate exchanged a first salute with an enlisted officer or, in some cases, a family member in the military. The ceremony’s guest of honor, Air Force Lt. Gen. Linda S. Hurry, deputy commander of Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, administered the oath of office to the brigade, which swore to support and defend the Constitution.

As they embark on their military careers around the world, Hurry said, it’s understandable that the newly commissioned officers might feel nervous, as she once was. She told them to remember that the military is a family, a "team sport" in which service members have each other’s backs, regardless of uniform color.

“The teamwork, the camaraderie, the spirit, the leadership that you guys have displayed – take all those lessons and go lead well,” Hurry said. “Make our armed services better than yesterday.”

Rose Jou ’25 said she didn’t know much about the Navy before arriving at Cornell. But Jou came to appreciate the ROTC ethos demanding excellence and accountability while encouraging trainees to learn from mistakes and develop as leaders. Graduating as Navy ROTC’s battalion commander, Jou by the end of 2025 will report to the USS Preble, a destroyer based in Yokosuka, Japan.

Credit: Devin Flores/Cornell University

“Through the program, I’ve gotten more and more fired up to hit the fleet,” said Jou, of Boulder, Colorado, a student in the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration, part of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. “It’s weird to see it come to an end, but I also know it’s just beginning.”

Jean-Manuel Mena ’25 plans to attend medical school en route to becoming an Air Force physician. A College of Agriculture and Life Sciences student from Port St. Lucie, Florida, Mena conducted research in a College of Veterinary Medicine lab. He said ROTC helped instill skills from leadership to time management.

“We’re all from different places, and we come together and have the same purpose,” Mena said. “The active learning that we have here definitely has helped me grow as a person.”

Justice Starks ’25, a Cornell Engineering student from Virginia Beach, Virginia, was pinned by his brother and sister, active-duty members of the Navy and Coast Guard, respectively. Interested in astronautics and aerospace engineering, Starks hopes to work with radar, satellites and rockets as a member of the Space Force, bound for Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado. ROTC is part of what drew him to Cornell.

“I changed a lot going through this program,” Starks said. “It makes you a lot more comfortable taking up positions of leadership and pursuing opportunities, and helping people you see in need.”

Connor Eaton ’25 set his sights on the Marines despite being born and raised abroad, the son of American parents living in London. A student in the College of Arts and Sciences and a varsity lightweight rower, he said he was drawn by the opportunity to access the highest-quality training as part of the world’s best-funded military, enabling him to continue to see the world in a pragmatic, service-oriented way.

“Having lived abroad, and having seen the world and seen what people think of the United States, there’s almost a greater obligation to serve and bring that perspective,” Eaton said. “I have a perspective on the world that I think could be useful for the organization.”

Lt. Col. Derek R. Fitzpatrick, professor of military science and the Army ROTC department head, said the commissioning class – the university’s 108th – proudly supported and represented Cornell’s land-grant mission.

“It’s a great day individually for the cadets, and a celebration of their achievements,” Fitzpatrick said. “But it’s days like today when we remember Cornell’s legacy: 108 years of ROTC. And I reminded them: You’re a part of the legacy now.”

Cornellians receiving commissions on May 23 were:

• Army: Jessica Chang; Jack Meyer; Indigo Monser-Kernosh; Sahil Patel; Samuel Rabin; Vivian Ramirez; Jenna Stickley; Lexie Vanderloo; Tyler Walker.
• Marines: Connor Eaton; Jason Haims; Vincent Kinduelo; Jacob Pantoya.
• Navy: Luke Brust; Rose Jou; Olivia Niewiadomski.
• Air Force: Jean-Manuel Mena.
• Space Force: Madeline Kaufman Schiller; Justice Starks; Colby Woo.

Also receiving commissions were:

• Army: Jack Kralik, Binghamton University; Alexandra Mariott, State University of New York at Cortland; Vincent Raimondi, SUNY Cortland.
• Air Force: Jack Brammer, SUNY Cortland; Joseph Heinle, Binghamton University; Michael Lese, Binghamton University.