(MILLINGTON, Tenn.) – Navy Midshipman Megan Rogelstad, from Westminster, Maryland, participated in the 2019 spring Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) ship selection draft as a future member of the Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) community.
“I have experienced an immense amount of personal and professional growth since I first started NROTC back in 2015,” said Rogelstad. “I have accomplished things that I never had even considered, ranging from physical training sessions at Marine Corps Obstacle Course to conning a Yard Patrol Craft over one of my summer cruises. Accomplishing the wide variety of physically and mentally straining tasks presented by, not only NROTC, but the balancing act of NROTC and college academics has left me feeling completely ready for any task or situation that could be presented to me in the future. It has taught me that the only limiting factor is yourself and that you are capable of succeeding in almost anything.”
According to their rankings, each midshipman provided a preference of ship or homeport to the junior officer detailer at the Navy Personnel Command in Millington, Tennessee. If these preferences were available, they were assigned as requested.
“The SWO Ship Selection process reflects the culmination of all my hard work and dedication over the past four years,” said Rogelstad. “All the times that I spent belaboring over school work and NROTC duties is being rewarded by this momentous time, in which I am able to use what I’ve learned over the past few years to make an educated decision about where I’m going to start my career in the United States Navy.”
Rogelstad, a 2015 Seoul American High School graduate, has selected to serve aboard USS Winston Churchill. She is majoring in biochemistry at University of Texas Austin. Upon graduation, she will receive a commission as a Navy Ensign and report aboard Churchill as a surface warfare officer.
Commissioned in 2001, Churchill is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer homeported in Norfolk, Virginia. Guided-missile destroyers are multi-mission surface combatants capable of conducting Anti-Air Warfare, Anti-Submarine Warfare, and Anti-Surface Warfare.
“I am so excited to learn this whole set of new information. I’ve had an outstanding time the past four years studying for my degree in biochemistry because biochemistry is such a new science that everything that I was learning was not like anything I had ever learned before,” said Rogelstad. “Being on a ship is a continuation of this desire for new challenges and mastery in different fields. On top of that, nothing can express the amount of anticipation I feel for the moment that I will be able to take care of and lead some of the finest United States citizens.”
The midshipmen’s ship selection is not only a major personal milestone but also an important day for the ships in the fleet. Not only do the midshipmen choose where they are going to start their Navy career, but the ship they choose will also gain a motivated, eager, young officer to help lead and improve an already great team, according to Navy officials.
"NROTC units across the country instill essential warfighting fundamentals, professional core competencies, and ethics required in a Navy or Marine Corps officer," said Rear Adm. Mike Bernacchi, Commander, Naval Service Training Command, which includes the NROTC Program. "I am enormously proud of our graduating midshipman for completing this demanding program, and look forward to them joining the fleet."
“I am incredibly dedicated and hardworking as a person,” added Rogelstad. “These qualities, coupled with my intense desire to learn and become an expert, will allow me to excel in new and difficult environments. As a leader, I am enthusiastic, and a good listener and I am constantly looking for ways to improve myself and others when appropriate. These are traits that I hope can create an open environment where my sailors are able to grow and flourish.”