Tuesday, Sep. 27, 2011

Cadet Command releases anticipated ‘Order of Merit’ list

FORT KNOX, Ky. — On the cusp of becoming military officers, Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets across the country are learning this week how they are ranked nationally.

Atop the national “Order of Merit” list is Mariya Golotyuk, a senior from the University of Maryland, who is also an Army National Guard Soldier.

The OML places each of the 5,643 Army cadets in the fiscal 2012 cohort in relation to the others based on academic and leadership factors. Cadets are scored by their grade-point average, their performance in a national leadership course and in specific leadership dimensions, observations made by ROTC instructor cadre, and physical fitness test scores.

Placement on the Order of Merit list is not a contest. However, it does determine how likely a cadet is to serve in the Army profession of his or her choice.

Rounding out the top 10 are Dacren Walker, University of Colorado Springs; Andrew Petefish, University of North Dakota; Kevin Bubolz, Marquette University; Andrew Blair, Rochester Institute of Technology; Joshua Varney, Columbus State University; Michael Miller, Pennsylvanias State University; Troy Warcewicz, Virginia Military Institute; Jordan Hancock, Texas A&M University; and Michael Holly, Georgia Southern University.