Law and Justice graduate finds personal and professional growth through ROTC

Ever since starting high school, Nathan Wong knew he wanted to serve his country, through law enforcement or military service.

When it came time to decide his next steps after graduation, one school stood out as the perfect fit.

“When choosing colleges, I wanted a law and justice degree, and I wanted to stay close to home,” said Wong, who was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and grew up in Renton. “Central Washington University was a good match, and I was happy to get accepted here.”

CWU welcomed Wong to the Wildcat family in 2022, and within his first week, he already found himself making lasting memories and fresh connections on campus.

“One of my favorite memories was Welcome Week,” he said. “I was able to meet a bunch of new people and ease into college life at a fast pace.”

Once he signed up for CWU’s Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and declared a minor in military science, Wong began working on himself in ways that have paid off through three years of hard work.

“I’ve been able to physically and mentally develop a lot through the ROTC program,” he said. “I came to college weighing less than a hundred pounds, not being able to deadlift much, and just recently, I nearly maxed out one of my final physical training tests.”

The ROTC program conducts a series of annual multi-unit exercises meant to broaden its students’ skillsets, including the Norwegian Foot March. Wong proudly participated in the grueling overnight trek three years in a row and used the experience to benchmark his progress.

“The Norwegian march is an endurance-based event, and It was pretty cool seeing my own progression and how much faster I was able to complete it this year,” he said.

His time with the ROTC led to some unexpected training experiences, too. One excursion saw his National Guard unit cross the Pacific to engage with their compatriots in Thailand.

“Not a lot of units get to go to overseas training exercises, so I had no idea that my unit would take me to Thailand,” Wong said. “Training with the Royal Thai Army was really cool. We got to swap a few patches and conduct an operation alongside them.”

In the lead-up to his graduation on June 14, Wong reflected not only on his own progress but on that of his peers who are still working toward their degrees.

“It’s cool seeing them develop, too,” he said. “I knew them since they were freshmen, and now they’re juniors and starting to take up these responsibilities and accept accountability for people. Seeing their leadership come into focus has been very rewarding.”

As an officer in training, Wong has been focused on leadership during his time at CWU. Looking back, he has felt his ability to exhibit that leadership grow in time with his physical skills, an asset he knows will serve him well in his career.

“Everything about being an officer is about leading other people,” Wong said. “CWU’s ROTC program has given me a bunch of opportunities to develop others, and through it, develop my own leadership style and philosophy.”

With graduation now behind him, Wong is preparing to move to Fort Benning, Georgia, for his 17-week Infantry Basic Officer Leadership Course, before continuing on to Ranger School. While he doesn’t know where in the world his military career will take him after that, he’s confident that his time at CWU has set him up for success.