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Cadet Grant Wittington top Cadet in U.S. Army

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                              CDT Whittington Photo

MC student, top cadet in U.S., to join Army as officer

The Clarion-Ledger, The Clarion-Ledger4:33 p.m. CDT September 27, 2014

Grant Whittington will graduate in 2015 and enter the Army as an officer.  Grant Whittington, a senior at Mississippi College, has excelled in ROTC, winning national recognition since the summer after his sophomore year.

In 2013, among some 1,500 others from across the county at the Leadership Training Course at Fort Knox, Kentucky, he finished as the nation’s No. 1 cadet, earning him an ROTC scholarship and a contract to sign with the Army.

The Leadership Training Course was “where God truly showed me the Army was for me,” the 21-year-old said in an MC news release.

Whittington, who is in MC’s Army ROTC program, is set to graduate in 2015 and begin a career as an Army officer.

The Army dispatched Whittington to Airborne school this past summer at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he learned how to properly deploy to the battlefield by jumping from an airplane with a parachute.

“Being Airborne is a huge honor in the military, and it was the most unbelievable experience in my life,” Whittington said in the news release. “Jumping out of airplanes is absolutely crazy.”

Of the 150 students in the Tiger Battalion based at Jackson State University, “Grant quickly established himself as one of the best cadets,” says Lt. Col. Travis A. Smith, chairman of the Jackson State Department of Military Science. He’s pushed by “his desire for excellence in all that he does.”

Members of the Army ROTC’s Tiger Battalion include 21 students from Mississippi College. Other cadets come from Tougaloo College, Hinds Community College, Jackson State, Millsaps, Belhaven, and Mississippi Valley State University.

Whittington also was among 20 Army ROTC cadets nationwide awarded the National Defense Transportation Association Cadet Award in 2014 by the Virginia-based organization.

“He is the epitome of a scholar, athlete and leader who leads by example both in and outside of the classroom,” Smith says. “He’s positive and upbeat.”

Army Capt. Reginald Brownlee, who oversees MC’s Army ROTC group, said he believes Whittington has a bright future.

At Mississippi College, Whittington has a 3.9 grade point average.

Growing up the son of a Marine, Whittington frequently moved around the U.S. and other parts of the globe. He was born in Okinawa, Japan, but eventually his parents, Dawn and Jessie Whittington, relocated to Thibodaux, Louisiana.

He said he discovered Army ROTC as a freshman to learn about the science of warfare and the art of leadership. “I can’t imagine my life without ROTC,” he said in the news release.

Enrolling more than 5,000 students, Baptist-affiliated Mississippi College was an excellent choice as well for Whittington. “I chose MC because of the small college environment and the Christian-based principles the school is founded on.”

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