As a student, one already has a busy schedule. A student-athlete has an even busier schedule with practices and competitions. Students who are members of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program have a similarly busy schedule. 

However, combining both programs, athletics and ROTC, makes for the busiest schedule of them all and is a thing that not many students attempt. At Shippensburg University, of about 70 members of the ROTC program, only four students are a part of the Army ROTC program and an NCAA-sponsored sport, in addition to two students on the rugby team.

Josiah Leonard, the starting running back on the Shippensburg University football team, is one of the few and shows how to combine being a student-athlete and a member of the ROTC program at SU.

The 20-year-old Bensalem native has been playing football since he was 8 years old.

During high school, Leonard also competed in track and field. Through that, he attended a camp at the Naval Academy after his freshman year of high school. That experience got him interested in the military and led to him signing up for his high school’s ROTC program for his sophomore year.

“I got to spend a week or two of the summer at the Naval Academy,” Leonard said. “It showed me the military life, which I thought was really cool. It made me join ROTC the next year of school.”

The fact that Shippensburg University not only had a football team but also the Army ROTC program to offer was a big factor in his decision to attend SU, Leonard said. 

Being a part of both programs keeps the 20-year-old busy. 

He only has one class on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and then practice in the afternoon on Wednesdays and Fridays. However, on Tuesdays and Thursdays Leonard has morning meetings for football at 7 a.m., three classes throughout the morning until noon, lift at noon and practice in the afternoon. On Thursdays, he also has an ROTC lab in the afternoon, so he attends football practice after his lab gets done around 4 p.m. on these days.

Both the ROTC department and the football coaches work with Leonard as much as they can to optimize his schedule. One example is the ROTC program not requiring him to attend the morning physical training sessions, since he is conditioning for football.

“He balances it very well, and it comes back to communication,” said Master Sgt. Cardray Moulden, Leonard´s instructor for Military Science 3 (MS3), the junior class. “He communicates what is going on and what he needs. He is a very trustworthy person, so if he says something to me, I take him for his word, and at no point in time has he ever misled me.”

According to Moulden, he will adjust for Leonard or excuse him, but only if Leonard brings it up to him, which rarely ever happens because Leonard is managing his tasks well.

The offensive coordinator for Shippensburg´s football team, KiJuan Ware said, “He has worked [his schedule] out where he can balance it both and has very minimal conflicts.” 

For the future, Leonard hopes to commission into the Army as a medical service officer. The exercise science major wants to use his degree after he graduates and potentially become a physical therapist in the Army.

Leonard said he chose to be a part of both programs to prove people wrong and set himself apart.

“Everybody told me in high school ‘You cannot do all that; it is too much,” the 20-year-old said. “I carried that over to college. There is not many of us that do ROTC and another sport, so I feel like I set myself apart from everybody else.”

Proving people wrong is Leonard’s agenda. He said, “If anybody tells you, you cannot do something, just prove them wrong and do it.”

Share