Commencement Photo: ROTC Commissions 16 New Officers

Parents Julie and Scott Thompson pin the rank insignia on 2nd Lt. Bennett Thompson ’22, one of 16 ROTC graduates — 15 entering the U.S. Army and one Navy midshipman entering the Marines — commissioned in the Nassau Hall Faculty Room May 24. Gen. Mark Milley ’80, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, administered the oath. “You’re taking an oath to an idea — the idea that is America — and you will do anything and everything if necessary, to sacrifice even your life to preserve that idea and pass it on, unscathed, to the next generation,” Milley said. “I’m extraordinarily proud of each and every one of you.”