The University of Colorado Boulder will graduate and commission a new wave of more than 100 military officers at its commencement ceremony on May 8, with its graduates eager to make their mark as leaders in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Space Force.

The CU Boulder ROTC program will commission 105 officers into the military this academic year, including 73 from CU Boulder.

“I am just bursting with pride over these young Americans who have made this choice to serve their country, and not only that, but everything they’ve done to get here,” said Rebecca Lange, the commander of CU Boulder’s Air Force ROTC Detachment 105.

ROTC, or Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, is a military leadership training and development program that allows students to obtain a college degree while preparing them for opportunities to be officers in the U.S. Army, the Marine Corps, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force.

CU Boulder is the only Colorado higher education institution to host all three branches of military ROTC programs: the Army, Navy and Marines, and Air Force and Space Force. CU Boulder partners with other universities on its ROTC program and serves as a host campus for other schools, including Colorado School of Mines and Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Senior Chase Hansen was part of the Naval ROTC program with a Marines option, and he will be commissioned into the Marines after graduation. He attended CU Boulder from out of state, thanks to a scholarship.

“I wanted the opportunity to go to college, and on top of that, I just think that I can have a great impact being an officer,” Hansen said. “And I really like the leadership and idea of servant leadership and taking care of people.”

He said his time in the program helped him become a better person, friend, leader, brother and son.

“It’s enabled me to be a better leader and a more caring person and have more empathy and really understand what leadership is all about,” Hansen said.

He said the most important thing he learned is the message that leadership is not about him or any one individual.

“It’s not really about us, it’s about the mission and the people that you’re leading,” Hansen said.

ROTC cadets, in addition to managing a full, traditional undergraduate academic load, make a four-year commitment to physical training, military training and leadership development. Even Coach Prime Deion Sanders took notice of the high-intensity training within the program. When Coach Prime first arrived at CU Boulder and brought in transfer players, he asked the Naval cadets to help his individual players become a team and bond through physically exhausting exercises.

“For our ROTC kids, they feel more of a sense of belonging to the university when they’re collaborating with other parts of the university,” said Robert Bodisch, commanding officer of Naval ROTC. “I think they got a kick out of that.”

Since then, the Naval ROTC program and its students have led the football team through workouts multiple times. Word has spread, and the program is planning to do workouts with other men’s and women’s sports teams as well.

The Navy and Marines program will commission and graduate 24 officers this academic year. This unit produces more Navy SEALs and pilots on average than any school outside of the Naval Academy. It also has more Marine Corps Enlisted Commissioning Education Program Marines, or MECEPs, than any other school in the country, who are enlisted Marines who are selected to attend college and become officers while still on active duty.

Bodisch said some of this year’s graduates will become naval officers, which includes one prospective Navy SEAL. Others will enter the Marines.

“I reflect back on their careers going through the program, and it’s a feather in their cap of finishing four years of an intense ROTC experience here at CU, and intense on the academics as well,” Bodisch said. “But what I’m most proud about is how moral they are and how ethical they will be as leaders.”

The Army ROTC program, or Golden Buffalo Battalion, is graduating and commissioning 36 officers this academic year, including 19 from CU Boulder.

“When you’re interacting with these cadets, they’re phenomenal,” Army ROTC Commander Lynae Place said. “The things that they can do … I never even thought I could do at that age. It’s awe-inspiring.”

Last year, one Army ROTC cadet ranked third out of more than 5,000 cadets nationwide, and 10 cadets have earned recognition as a Distinguished Military Graduate in the last four years. The Distinguished Military Graduate recognition honors the top 20% of Army ROTC graduates nationwide based on academics, physical fitness, leadership and training performance.

The U.S. Air Force and Space Force ROTC program at CU Boulder will graduate and commission 45 officers this academic year. On graduation day, 35 will walk in the ceremony, 30 of whom are CU Boulder students. CU Boulder’s Air Force detachment is the fourth largest in the nation out of 145 programs. It has 270 cadets, half of whom are CU Boulder students. The other half come from universities and colleges that CU Boulder serves as a host campus for, from Colorado Springs to metro Denver.

“I’m just so grateful to watch them in action and know that that’s who’s taking over for us,” Lange, the Air Force ROTC commander, said. “And I have no qualms about hanging it up and retiring knowing that the Air Force and the Space Force are in such great hands.”

Senior Josh Taylor will be joining the Navy after graduating from CU Boulder on May 8. He said he loved having a college experience while preparing to go to the military.

“It’s definitely helped keep me well-rounded throughout college, but I think it’s especially helped me mature in my confidence leading people,” Taylor said.

He’s especially grateful for the friends he made through the program.

“Day to day, a lot of times it wasn’t too glamorous waking up at 5 a.m. every morning, especially in college at a school in Boulder where people are partying and doing that stuff all the time,” Taylor said. “But I think surrounding yourself with people who care about you and are really driven has helped me a lot and helped me stay on the right path.”

ROTC programs have been on CU Boulder’s campus nearly since the university was founded, which was in 1876. In 1883, students at CU Boulder established a voluntary cadet corps and the state issued the cadets Army infantry uniforms, weapons and equipment.

In 1914, the first official military units were established on campus, and in 1917, the university faculty voted to establish its own voluntary Army ROTC program. In early 1918, the War Department established a Student Army Training Corps at the university for students who had been drafted.

Following World War II, after repeated requests from the university to create an Army ROTC program on campus, the Army established its first official ROTC program at CU Boulder in 1948.

A Navy ROTC unit first existed at CU Boulder in early 1918 in support of World War I but was disbanded after the war. The unit was officially established in 1941 and subsequently hosted the Navy’s Japanese Language School, which provided all the interpreters and translators for the Navy and Marine Corps during World War II and the following reconstruction of Japan.

The Air Force ROTC was established at CU Boulder in 1951 and has since commissioned more than 1,500 officers.

“The history tells you that you have something very good going on here at this campus,” Bodisch said.