A University senior and ROTC cadet was selected to receive the George C. Marshall Award for military excellence.
Cadet and anthropology major Evan Hessel was one of more than 270 ROTC cadets selected nationally to receive the award and attend a four-day seminar on military leadership and national security in Lexington, Va., April 12-15. Each university’s cadet program chooses one student based on leadership skills, academic achievement, integrity and how much the cadet gives back to the program.
University ROTC Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Bill Fox looked at a pool of 12 seniors and recommended Hessel for the award.
“Of the 12 cadets, he was above the rest in all respects,” Fox said. He added that Hessel went out of his way to promote ROTC at his former high school in Beaverton and makes time to instruct freshman cadets. He also looked at Hessel’s scores on a special training event, called the Leadership Development Assessment Course.
“He was a team player and gave back to the program,” Fox said.
Hessel said he was surprised to hear he had won.
“It definitely came out of left field,” Hessel said.
“These cadets represent the very best of a highly selective organization,” according to the George C. Marshall Foundation Web site.
Hessel said this is an opportunity for him to meet many of his peers as well as military leaders and historians. Discussion panels will include topics on current military operations, media on the battlefield and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hessel is active both with the ROTC and on campus. In addition to working part-time as a lifeguard at the Student Recreation Center, he is an advisor for Lane County Search and Rescue and maintains a 3.51 GPA. He spends an additional 10-20 hours per week with the ROTC in physical training, classes, practical exercises and occasional weekend training, such as the land-navigation course his group completed on Saturday and Sunday.
Hessel’s friend and Cadet Battalion Commander Paul Sherwin said the award is seen as quite an honor among cadets at universities nationally. He said ROTC commanders don’t make the decision without a lot of thought and consideration, and he believes Hessel was a good choice.
“He works very hard for other people,” Sherwin said. “I thought he very much deserved it.”
Hessel will formally receive the award May 20 at the annual
military ball.
Hessel will graduate in June as a 2nd Lt. and attend a course in combat engineering for 18 weeks before assignment to a full-time Army battalion.
For Hessel, being a soldier and officer is a very personal affair. He currently has friends who are fighting in Iraq and wants them to know his time in college has prepared him to be a strong leader.
“We as soldiers don’t make the policies, and we don’t choose the wars, but when the call comes, we go and we fight, and sometimes we die,” Hessel said, adding that for him it is a privilege to be in the military. “It’s what I as an honorable person want to do. It’s my choice, and it’s my duty.”

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