Cadet wins national award

ROTC Cadet Sean Conlon, a senior resource and conservation major at UM’s College of Forestry and Conservation, was recently selected for the George C. Marshall Leadership Award.

The award recognizes top student leaders in ROTC programs nationwide.

Conlon will receive a scholarship to attend the 2008 George C. Marshall Seminar from April 14-18 at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va. Only 273 cadets nationwide receive the opportunity to attend the seminar and participate in roundtable discussions with distinguished leaders in the military, government and civil sectors.

Cadets will focus their discussions on issues such as peacekeeping and the U.S. military; terrorism, counterterrorism and conflict in the Persian Gulf; and ethical matters for U.S. Army officers.

Conlon, chosen by his professors to be a Distinguished Military Graduate, is ranked in the top 4 percent of the more than 4,200 ROTC cadets nationally. He currently serves as commander of the UM Grizzly Battalion and holds a 3.48 grade-point average. Conlon graduated from Libertyville High School in Libertyville, Ill., in 2004.

He will serve as an infantry officer upon his commissioning as a second lieutenant in May.

The award, named for Army Gen. George C. Marshall, was established in 1976 and is sponsored by the George C. Marshall Foundation and the Virginia Military Institute. Marshall, who served as U.S. Army chief of staff and secretary of state and defense, created the Marshall Plan to aid post-World War II Europe and was the only career soldier to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.