More than 20 Future Sailors gathered at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus for the Ohio Military Signing Day, March 10.
Ohio Military Signing Day is an annual event hosted by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce for Ohio 11th and 12th grade students, who are committed to military service and will either attend a service academy in the fall, have accepted a Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship or will enlist for service as active duty, reserve or National Guard.
Ohio Military Signing Day featured various Ohio-based speakers who are leaders in the military, education, and workforce development fields. The event also included student speakers who shared their thoughts on the topic, "What is your reason for joining the armed forces?"
Travis Laneve, future Sailor and senior at McDonald High School, McDonald, Ohio, served as one of four student speakers.
“It was definitely a great honor to be one of the student speakers (and) are why I want to join (the Navy),” said Laneve. “It was great being able to see everyone sitting in front of me that's joining the military with me as well.”
Laneve, who is currently a member of the Ohio Civil Air Patrol, said his passion for science and engineering led to his decision to enlist in the Navy as a nuclear engineer.
“My recruiter wanted me to go into the field of nuclear propulsion,” Laneve said. “And then when they were telling me what it was all about, and I realized it was numbers, science, stuff I really like, and (the ability) to travel the world, I was like, I have to take it.”
Laneve comes from a family of military service with grandparents and cousins who have served in the Armed Forces and said how he is proud to continue that legacy of service.
“I am so proud of our future Sailors that are here today,” said Cmdr. Phil Richter, commanding officer Navy Talent Acquisition Group Ohio River Valley. “These young men and women are the future of our Navy and will soon be graduating high school and heading to boot camp to become Sailors. I look forward to seeing them in the fleet.”
The event garnered not only dozens of future service members, but loved ones and their branch recruiters as well.
NTAG ORV recruits the highest quality applicants for the U.S. Navy throughout Ohio, Kentucky, Southern West Virginia, and Southern Indiana covering more than 110,000 square miles.