The awards are presented each year by The U.S. Army Cadet Command, the parent organization of the Army ROTC, in conjunction with Norfolk’s General Douglas MacArthur Foundation.

“I attribute this recognition to several things: my predecessor, retired Lt. Col. Mike Desens who headed the department for five years; to the professionalism of the cadre; and to the focus placed on academics at Wentworth,” said Lt. Col. Tommy J. Tracy, the battalion’s commanding officer and Professor of Military Science.

The MacArthur Awards were instituted in 1989 to honor the top Army ROTC units from around the country according to the Executive Director of the General Douglas MacArthur Foundation, retired Marine Corps Col. William J. Davis.

“The awards recognize the individual units within the Army ROTC program that have achieved the standards that best represent the ideals of the watch words of ‘Duty- Honor- Country’ as practiced by General MacArthur,” said Davis.

“Ultimately, success in our program is up to the individual Cadet,” said Tracy. “We’ve provided them with the training and tools they will need to succeed at their follow-on college or university. Hopefully, they will take the ethics they’ve learned at Wentworth with them and successfully complete their degree.”

The Army ROTC battalions selected for the awards were the most successful of the Commands’ 273 units in accomplishing their mission of training and commissioning the majority of the lieutenants entering the Army each year.

Army ROTC teaches students how to succeed in today’s competitive world by providing them with leadership and management skills, which last a lifetime. Many graduates attribute their success in careers in government and industry to the training that they received while ROTC cadets. Among the distinguished graduates of the ROTC program are former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton.

ROTC units are located at 273 colleges and universities throughout the country. Students at nearly 1,200 other institutions of higher learning can also participate in Army ROTC training through partnership agreements with nearby schools. Since the establishment of the program in 1916, over 500,000 men and women have become Army officers through Army ROTC. Wentworth Military Academy and Junior College is one of the five ROTC programs in the nation that has a 2-year early commissioning program.