St. Peter senior wins competitive Navy scholarship
Apr. 17—By Holly Marie Moore
ST. PETER — A St. Peter High School senior is one of only a few applicants chosen to receive a $200,000 Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps scholarship.
Raina Roemhildt was awarded the Immediate Scholarship Reservation award, which is given by U.S. Navy unit commanding officers and is only awarded to a select few applicants. A ceremony took place at the school Monday to present her the scholarship.
Out of the 80 applicants for the award, Roemhildt was one of four selected in the U.S. Navy Talent Acquisition Group Northern Plains region, which includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and parts of Illinois, Nebraska and Wisconsin.
Roemhildt was accepted to the University of Washington for an undeclared engineering degree where she will continue her father's legacy as a naval officer commissioning through an NROTC program, a news release said.
She described being selected for the scholarship as an "unreal experience," in the release. "The Navy has always been a part of my life. I knew that I wanted to go into the service, but I also wanted to attend college. NROTC is the best of both worlds."
Cmdr. John Allen, commanding officer of NTAG Northern Plains, told The Free Press that Roemhildt embodies their core values.
"When I interviewed her, she was very positive. You could see how passionate she was about all of the things that she did in high school and about being part of the Navy. It was one of the easiest choices I had to make," he said.
"She's done all the hard work. She's done all the things that you need to do to be a well-rounded citizen and a great future leader in the Navy. That's why giving her this scholarship was one of the easiest decisions."
