The Eastern Washington University (EWU) Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program is pleased to announce that Kylie Crooks has been awarded the Major General (MG) Barbara R. Holcomb Nurse Cadet Excellence Award. The award recognizes the top nursing Cadet in the 8th ROTC Brigade that covers the 30 different ROTC programs across the west coast of the United States to include major universities such as USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, Washington St. etc. MG Barbara Holcomb is a 1987 graduate from the Seattle University’s ROTC program and the former Chief of the Army Nurse Corps. She retired from active duty last year and established this award to recognize nursing excellence in the brigade.
Cadet Crooks is studying nursing and is on pace to graduate with honors. She has also demonstrated a high level of physical fitness by scoring above 90 points on each event of the Army Physical Fitness Test. She has further demonstrated her fitness by receiving a Gold German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge (GAFPB) during testing held by German Army officials at EWU. She was also selected for a Randy Van Turner ROTC Scholarship that is currently paying her full tuition. Kylie last summer completed ROTC Advanced Camp at Ft. Knox, Kentucky where she received the highest rating of “Outstanding”. Besides being a Cadet, Kylie also serves as a watercraft engineer in the U.S. Army Reserve’s 467th Transportation Company.
After graduating from EWU and the Washington State University College of Nursing in December 2020, Kylie will commission as an officer into the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. She will then attend basic officer training and be assigned to an Army hospital where she hopes to specialize in being an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurse. She also has a long term goal of pursing a Doctorate Nurse Practitioner in the future. EWU Army ROTC wishes Cadet Crooks all the best in her future endeavors and congratulate her for receiving this prestigious award.
Is Army Nursing for You?
Any EWU student who wants to be a healthcare professional and has an interest in serving their country should consider Army nursing. If you are not sure if the Army is for you, ROTC is the one way to explore military service with no obligation to join. Our nursing Cadets complete their first two to three years of Nursing and ROTC pre-requisites on Eastern’s Cheney campus. The nursing Cadets then complete their final two years at the Washington State University (WSU) College of Nursing in downtown Spokane. The WSU College of Nursing reserves seats in each class for ROTC Nurses that achieve their admissions standards. To qualify for one of the reserved nursing seats you must make the decision to contract into ROTC by then.
EWU Army ROTC currently has the largest Cadet nursing program in Washington State and the Inland Northwest. We have a proven track record of our nursing Cadets receiving scholarships and going on to become healthcare professionals in service to our nation. You can learn more about our nursing program at this link and feel free to contact us at this link with any questions.
Go ROTC! Go Army Nursing!