Kennesaw Native Participates in NROTC Ship Selection Draft

Navy Midshipman Christiani Fernandez from Kennesaw participated in the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) ship selection draft as a future member of the U.S. Navy’s Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) community.

More than 280 midshipmen at 70 Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) units around the country have selected to serve in the Navy as surface warfare officers. Each selecting midshipman is ranked according to his or her grade point average, aptitude scores, and physical fitness.

“The Georgia Tech unit has a large amount of tradition relating back to it being one of the first NROTC units in the country,” said Fernandez. “Several historically important officers have also commissioned out of this unit.”

According to their rankings, each midshipman provided their 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.

“Ship selection is one of the final checks before I get to commission and hit the fleet,” said Fernandez. “It allows me to lay the groundwork of my future Naval career. And I get the opportunity to live somewhere that I never have before.”

Fernandez, a 2012 Kennesaw Mountain High School graduate, has selected to serve aboard USS Boxer (LHD 4). Fernandez is majoring in political science while attending Georgia Tech. Upon graduation, Fernandez will receive a commission as a Navy Ensign and report aboard [SHIP] as a surface warfare officer.

Homeported in San Diego, Boxer is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship of the United States Navy. It is the sixth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the original HMS Boxer, which had been captured from the British during the War of 1812.

The midshipmen’s selection of their ship is not only a milestone for them but also an important day for the ships in the fleet. Not only do the midshipmen choose where they are going to start their Naval career, but the ship they choose will also gain a motivated, eager, young officer to help lead and improve an already great team.

While NROTC units are spread out across the country and vary in size, they all teach midshipmen the values, standards, abilities and responsibility that it takes to become a Navy officers and lead this nations sons and daughters in protecting freedom on the seven seas.

“Being in NROTC has helped to develop my leadership style and has given me the opportunity to work with people of many different backgrounds and ways of thinking,” added Fernandez.