From America Division to the World
After seven years with the America Division and achieving the rank of Chief Petty Officer, Midshipman Colizzi received a four-year NROTC scholarship to attend Virginia Tech as a member of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets.
He is currently majoring in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology Management, and plans to serve in the United States Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer after graduation.
CPO Dryden is now a Cadet at The Citadel in Charleston, SC, majoring in History and Law where she has made the Dean's List.
She is a member of the NJROTC Marines, Platoon Leaders Class, Regimental Marching Band (French Horn), and the Women's Rugby team. She was selected to attend Officer Candidate School at Quantico.
I am currently a Midshipman at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The US Naval Sea Cadets was instrumental in helping me achieve my childhood dream of attending USNA. Sea Cadets was the first program that really introduced me to the Navy and career opportunities in different communities as an officer and enlisted.
The most important factor Sea Cadets taught me is valuable skills of peer leadership and interpersonal communication. My first application to USNA was unsuccessful and I ended up doing a Rat Year at Virginia Military Institute. I used that failure to motivate me to work harder, reapplied, and was successful. The countless training and teamwork opportunities through Sea Cadets allowed me to have a different perspective at the Naval Academy. I would not be where I am today without the USNSCC.
Joshua was with America Division from March 2020 to June 2022. He is currently at Virginia Tech in the Corps of Cadets on a leadership scholarship in the Navy track.
He is in the 4th Battalion, Band Company, and plays in the Highty Tighties. His degree is Computer Science.
Robert was with America Division from August 2012 to June 2019, starting as a League Cadet and graduating as a PO3. He joined the Navy and served in the band platoon during boot camp, playing at his own graduation.
He is currently based in San Diego, California, where he recently advanced to FC2 (Fire Controlman) at E-5.
John was with America Division from May 2011 to June 2015, graduating as a CPO. He joined the Marines in 2016, volunteered with a Sea Cadet unit in San Antonio during corpsman A school, then served at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, 29 Palms, CA in the anesthesia department — managing care for surgeries and responding to cardiac arrests.
He went on to serve aboard the USS George Washington during its midlife refueling, supervising nine corpsmen through daily sick call, appointments, and emergencies. He also completed a temporary deployment aboard USS Truxtun, attended Hospital Corpsman Trauma Training at University Hospital in Cleveland — an eight-week Level 1 trauma and ICU program — and was selected as the honor graduate for his class.
He was slated to screen for Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman and join Marine Recon and MARSOC. He arrived aboard ship as an HN (E-3) and departed as an HM2 — a rank rarely achieved given Navy Corpsman advancement quotas.
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If you served with the America Division and would like to share your story, we'd love to hear from you. Your path matters to the cadets who are just starting theirs.
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