Pancakes makes way for leadership
The EIU ROTC members will be hosting a pancake breakfast prepared completely by the students for the visiting families and the community Saturday morning.
“The students are in charge of the organization, marketing, buying and transferring the food and cleaning up after,” said Lt. Col. Stephen Knotts, a military science professor.
The breakfast will consist of an all -you-can-eat feast of pancakes and sausage from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Charleston V.F.W. Post on 1821 20th St.
There will be three shifts of 17 students each, Knotts said.
“Students will be doing all of the pancakes, and the faculty will be there for support, just in case anything goes wrong,” said Roy Peregrine, the president of the Leadership and Excellence Club within the ROTC. Peregrine is in charge of the breakfast.
Knotts said hosting the breakfast is a good way to teach responsibility.
“It’s good to teach them because they see the entire spectrum of what it takes to put on an event like this,” Knotts said.
Tickets for the meal can be bought from an ROTC cadet or in the ROTC office in Lumpkin Hall for $5 or at the door on the day of the breakfast for $6.
Wednesday, the ROTC sold about 600 tickets; however, they have enough for 1,000 attendees.
“We historically do it on Family Weekend for parents to come in and see how their student are learning and growing in such a short time,” Knotts said.
Even alumni who have graduated at least 10 years ago said they had fond memories of working the breakfast, Knotts said.
The money earned by the Pancake Breakfast is used for ROTC training proctors and the annual military ball.
“The ball is a very important way to learn a lot about military tradition and customs,” Peregrine said.
Two cadets, Steven Kutz and Jacob Dallas, will be contracted into the advanced class of the ROTC at 9 a.m. during the breakfast.
This consists of Kutz and Dallas taking an oath to the United States Military to become an officer upon graduation.
The EIU ROTC has two programs: the basic class and the advanced class.
The basic class is open to all students who want to learn about leadership and the military, with no military obligation, Knotts said.
The advanced class is the one Kutz and Dallas will be entering into. To enter this program, the cadet must make a commitment to become a military officer once they graduate.
This is usually done in the students’ junior or senior years, Knotts said.
Kayleigh Zyskowski can be reached at 581-7942 or dennewsdesk@gmail.
Pancakes makes way for leadership
Members of the Eastern ROTC work to make pancakes during their pancake breakfast fundraiser on Oct. 3, 2009 at the Charleston Veterans of Foreign Wars hall. (Submitted Photo )
