NROTC scholarship awarded to Walnut High School student

After years of hard work, senior Hector Hernandez has won the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) scholarship, earning a full-ride scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley. There, he plans to study Public Safety and then serve in the Marines for four years before becoming a civilian firefighter.

The NROTC scholarship offers students the opportunity to enlist into the Navy with the rank of an officer as soon as they graduate from college. Hernandez, along with many other people that had the highest scores, physical fitness and leadership qualities from around the nation, applied to this scholarship.

“There’s a lot of physical and mental things I had to do to prepare for this, and a lot more leadership I had to show,” Hernandez said. “I was competing with some of the best people, and so I had to make sure I did a lot, like keeping my grades up and making sure that I was staying in better shape.”

Applicants are required to complete the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test and the physical training (PT) test. The ASVAB test is a standardized test on science, math and language that helps trainees identify which careers may be a fit for them once they join. On the other hand, the PT test is to evaluate the physical capabilities of the trainee and their readiness for combat. Hernandez scored a total of 85 out of 99 on the ASVAB and maxed out on the PT test. Once joining the Marines, Hernandez will serve as a firefighter, putting out fires in situations such as plane fires. As a part of varsity wrestling, coach Duy Tran worked with Hernandez throughout his high school career.

“In the last few years, something just clicked, and he’d go to double practice every day. He just really started putting in the time and lifted a lot of [weights] too,” Tran said.

Besides having to train physically to improve on his skills for both wrestling and for the PT test portion of his application, Hernandez also had to find a balance between working on the physical and academic portion.

“He really focused on his goals, oriented himself towards self-betterment with the kinds of decisions he makes, and how he trains himself. He’s studying really to be able to study something that’ll help him go into firefighting,” senior Jack Thompson said.

With his father guiding him as a police officer and with knowledge about the various branches of law enforcement, Hernandez was recommended to become a firefighter to follow his interest.

“I saw how stressed out my dad was from his job because I could tell being a police officer put a lot of stress on him. So I really took his advice [to become a firefighter rather than a police officer],” Hernandez said. “I know he’s a lot older and wiser than me, and knows what’s best for me- he’s my dad, and I always really look up to him.” 

For Hernandez, earning the scholarship was not just about the scholarship itself, but more importantly, what it would lead to for his future: a scholarship, officer rank in the Marines and a path to become a firefighter.

“It’s definitely made a big impact [for me]. This is my greatest accomplishment so far, I’m just so privileged; I get to have free education, I get to be in a higher position of authority, make a lot more money and a lot more doors are going to open in the future because of this,” Hernandez said.