Twenty-six students participated in the NYC Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps’s New Student Orientation earlier this month.

The unit, headquartered at SUNY Maritime College, welcomed students from Fordham University, Columbia University and nursing students from Molloy College.

Serving as the first step in the process of becoming Naval midshipmen, students spent the weekend getting accustomed to a military lifestyle under the supervision and guidance of active duty staff.

Through discussions of military service, classroom learning, real world applications, marching, formations and physical training, the students learned basic military skills and the discipline necessary to succeed in the Navy and Marine Corps.

On Wednesday, September 13, those who successfully completed the 36-hour weekend joined their shipmates as they were sworn in as the newest members of New York City NROTC.

Over the coming years and semesters, the students will participate in multiple military activities, drills, physical training and complete a rigorous series of naval science courses. Upon graduation, scholarship students receive commissions in the active-duty Navy as an ensign, in the Marine Corps as a second lieutenant, or into the Naval Reserves. The active-duty commitment for scholarship students is four years with an additional four years in the Reserves.