He participates in just about everything ROTC offers, from the rifle drill team to the Arnold Air Society, a public service group. Right now, he's helping in a VETTECH course, teaching veterans how to use computers.
He also commands a seven-person public affairs unit, helping to publish the detachment's newsletter.
"I live [at ROTC] half the time now," he says. "I'll live there all the time next year."
Blankson never intended to end up in ROTC, but after being accepted to Harvard, he began to search for ways to pay for college.
"I found that ROTC allowed me to meet my educational goals and serve my country," he says. "Frankly, I'm surprised more students don't advantage of it."
A cognitive neurology concentrator whose parents hail from Ghana, Blankson hopes to spend his years in the Air Force as a doctor.
ROTC will pay for him to attend medical school as well as college, but the additional education will increase his commitment from the standard four years of service as a commissioned officer to eight years.
"It would be nice to have the option of leaving earlier if I decided it wasn't the thing for me," he says.
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