‘You are our future’

Under Secretary of the Army Joseph W. Westphal, PhD, addresses members of the Gateway Battalion, St. Louis’ Army Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) based at Washington University in St. Louis, during their 2011 Commissioning Ceremony May 13 at Tisch Commons in the Danforth University Center. The class of 17 cadets from area universities, including 2nd Lt. Rachel Atkins (below, who was among seven from WUSTL), were commissioned as new Army officers. Westphal welcomed the new lieutenants into the Army during the 93rd annual Gateway Battalion Army Commissioning Ceremony. “I’m proud to be here because you are our future,” he told them. Atkins, who will graduate Friday, May 20, with a bachelor’s degree in psychology in Arts & Sciences, was among seven of the 17 being commissioned to receive the honor of Distinguished Military Graduate, which among other characteristics, includes being in the top 20 percent of all ROTC graduates nationally.