Among this year’s group of 25 students who gathered at the University of Pennsylvania to take the oath as midshipmen in the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps battalion on Friday, Nov. 7., three are freshman from Penn’s Nursing School.

All three, Leah Hammaker, Nicole Weldon and Elaine Smith, were appointed midshipmen 4th classes after taking their oaths. They were chosen from a highly selective national pool to receive Navy Nurse scholarships.

During the ceremony, Col. Andrew Wilcox, the commanding officer at Penn’s NROTC, led the candidates from Penn, Drexel University and Temple University, as they took their midshipman oaths of office, pledging to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic….”

For nearly two months, Hammaker, Weldon and Smith and their 22 peers embarked upon new challenges that prepared them physically and mentally for their responsibilities as NROTC midshipmen.

Wilcox says this ceremony represents the culmination of indoctrination training for the new crop of Penn NROTC freshmen, who differ from their civilian counterparts.

“These young folks opted for a challenge – to become midshipmen in one of the most demanding and rigorous NROTC programs in the country,” Wilcox says. “Each day, they balanced the program requirements with a full academic load. In the process, they learned humility, respect, failure and success; they are well on their way to becoming military officers.”

Hammaker from Elizabethtown, Pa., says she feels fortunate to have been awarded the scholarship because being a part of NRTOC allows her to go to college, while focusing on her career. She’s also excited to start the process of becoming a Navy Nurse and being a part of a group of successful and motivated midshipmen.

“Being surrounded by people who have high expectations for themselves forces you to raise your standards and I believe this will make me the best Navy Nurse I can be,” Hammaker says.

Weldon is from Gahanna, Ohio. Both of her parents retired from the Navy, but her mother’s deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan are what inspired her the most.

She says that it’s a great honor to have received a Navy Nurse scholarship, but she also feels a strong sense of responsibility.

“The Navy is willing to pay for my education in order to commission a college graduate prepared to be an officer,” Weldon says. “This is exactly what I want my future to look like. When responsibility meets desire, you know something’s right.”

She adds that one person living up to his or her full potential leads to other members of the battalion doing the same.

“In this way, we are all here to support each other and draw each other to meet higher standards,” Weldon says. “We’re preparing now to provide the best protection and care for our country in the future.”

Smith is from Western Springs, Ill., and says the best part of NROTC so far has been learning from everyone that she’s met there.

“Although it has been very challenging, the upperclassmen have instilled in us a sense of discipline, responsibility, and pride in what we do,” Smith says. “Everyone in the unit pushes us to excel academically and physically, and we are taught to reach for higher standards beyond what we thought we could achieve.”

Hammaker, who was also inspired to serve in the Navy partly because of her family history of Naval service, adds she values the many career settings and various opportunities that it provides.

“We get to practice in clinical settings in some of the most exciting environments. We could be stationed on a hospital ship, caring for wounded Sailors or we could be stationed at a Naval hospital in the U.S. and working with the most advanced technology available,” Hammaker says. “We could be a part of the Navy’s humanitarian assistance and disaster response, where we would alleviate suffering and care for people all around the world. That is what I want to do.”

Weldon says during her time as a midshipman, she’s looking forward to getting to know the other members of the battalion better and understanding their reasons for committing to Naval service.

“We are all a part of the same mission, but our reasons for being here and our responsibilities vary,” Weldon says. “That’s what makes the Navy so dynamic and successful.”