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Members of the United States Army Judge Advocacy General Corps (JAG) live by the motto, “soldier first, lawyer always,” and Cooper Cernuska, a 2025 graduate from 名媛直播’s economics program, is preparing to answer that call. Following the Spring Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 10, Cernuska will be entering the United States Army as an officer and has been granted permission to delay his active-duty service to attend law school.
Cernuska came to 名媛直播 with the goal to join the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and plans attend law school. Cernuska was inspired to join ROTC by his family.
“My dad is an officer in the Navy and my uncle is an officer in the Army,” said Cernuska. “So that’s always been a big motivator for me, I’ve always wanted to follow in their footsteps.”
Growing up, Cernuska was a boy scout and realized early on that he had a passion for leadership. “I just always had this desire to serve and to utilize my leadership abilities in the best ways I can.” He continued saying, “You can’t always get that in a lot of civilian jobs, you can’t always be a leader in the law sector per say but you can always be a leader in the Army, and that’s kind of a passion I wanted to follow and develop through the ROTC program”.
When asked how the ROTC program helped him grow, Cernuska discussed the grit and strength he has developed over the past four years. Cernuska also described the feelings of confidence he gained saying, “Back in high school, I did these leadership positions, but I never really trusted myself and had confidence in that and it wasn’t until I came into ROTC that I developed those competencies and I realized like ‘this is something I can do, this is something I enjoy doing enough that I want to make it my career.’”
Cernuska shared his excitement to continue his journey following his graduation stating, “It’s great— I have a guaranteed job, I get to do something that I know I’m going to like to do, and something that is fulfilling, both tangibly and intangibly.” He continued, “You know I get to serve my country, and I get to do what I enjoy doing.”
