ROTC cadets in formation and ready to start their morning training session.

By: Kayleigh Phillips

Kristeen DuFresne, a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Oregon, walks up to her fellow ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) cadets outside the UO Student Recreation Center where they meet for their routine training session. The sun hasn’t even broken the eastern horizon, yet Kristeen and her fellow cadets are eager to get to work. They start out with a group stretch to prevent any injuries that could come during the more intense parts of the training.

The military is something that has always been prevalent in Kristeens life as both of her grandfathers served, one of which was in the Navy and the other in the Army. However, the presence of her former military family members is not what led her to joining ROTC. During her junior year of high school, she decided to join the junior ROTC program, “I joined because all my friends did and the teacher was cool,” she said. It was her own experiences that helped her establish an understanding of discipline and an appreciation for how far and hard she could push herself.

When Kristeen was a junior in high school she was required to have surgery on both of her hips. This led to her spending four months in a wheelchair and being forced to learn how to walk again. She required assistance with the simplest of tasks such as getting dressed and being able to adequately feed herself. This was a very tough time in her life, nevertheless she fought it with adversity and could truly find the positives in the situation. It was when Kristeen felt she had hit her lowest of lows that she realized all the little things she had been taking for granted, all while developing a desire to push herself to the absolute fullest to accomplish obstacles she once saw as unachievable. It took her being in a wheelchair and bouncing back from something most people could never imagine for her to realize her true strength and potential. She began to see the ROTC as a desirable goal and the next challenge she was going to face head on. All the sudden, spending the early hours of her mornings training in the ROTC program is exactly what she hoped to be doing during her time at the University of Oregon.

Kristeen is currently a full-time student at the University of Oregon studying human physiology while also fully committed to the ROTC program. “Kristeen is one of the most hard-working people I have met,” says fellow ROTC member Talia. She signed her contract this year shortly after being medically cleared by the government regarding her duel hip surgery. However, this isn’t the end of the road. She will continue to push herself in terms of both her education and continue to better herself throughout the program.