This year, 100 of the nation’s 4,200 graduating Army ROTC cadets have been awarded educational delays to go to graduate school. Three of them are from Xavier. “To have three of 100 out of 272 schools is pretty good,” says Lt. Col. Timothy Gobin, chairman of the military science department. “It’s unique because there’s very few that actually get selected.”

The group brings to eight the number of Xavier ROTC students who have successfully competed for the waivers in the last three years. Most ROTC cadets graduate as second lieutenants and go right into active or reserve duty. Those who seek a graduate degree postpone the start of their eight-year service commitment but find a wealth of different opportunities available for them when they return.

Patrick Kelleher, for example, is entering Creighton University Law School this fall and, once he graduates, will join the Judge Adjutant General corps as an officer where he’ll experience many facets of law. Lauren Giullito, who’s going to Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Atlanta, knows once she completes her degree, she could be stationed overseas, including in places like Iraq. “Doctors over there I know were armed and working on people as shells were falling,” she says. “It’s possible I could end up there.”