UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Detachment 720 and Honor Guard member and four-year Marching Blue Band clarinet player Lauren Boehmer has been selected as the College of Information Sciences and Technology ROTC student marshal for the commencement ceremony on May 4. She will lead the graduates of the college at the ceremony, accompanied by Col. Nathan Allerheiligen.
Boehmer, a Pittsburgh native, will graduate with a degree in security and risk analysis after achieving Dean’s List honors all semesters, and will pursue a career in federal law enforcement following her time at Penn State. Her passion for national security developed after the events of September 11, 2001.
“I have always considered 9/11 to be one of our nation's greatest tragedies,” she said. “Helping people and preventing tragedy is my biggest motivation for pursuing a career in this field.”
Joining the Air Force ROTC her sophomore year was a decision made in order to progress this goal. Gaining valuable military and intelligence climate experience helped to sharpen her abilities and has supplemented the lessons learned throughout her IST curriculum in order to accelerate her career.
A major in security and risk analysis allowed Boehmer to learn the fundamentals of intelligence and cybersecurity and advance skills that will be vital in her field. Her coursework developed her critical thinking and time-management skills and will allow her to compose reports that are sufficiently supported with evidence.
“Thanks to my time in ROTC I feel like I have a prior knowledge of the things that we talk about in IST,” she said. “I am able to draw on the information and experiences I have in ROTC to think critically about common practices and the enemy in different situations. Thanks to my coursework in IST, I am able to see how reports will be written and how to analyze intelligence to present to a commander.”
Boehmer will work after graduation as a special agent in the Office of Special Investigations — often referred to as the “FBI of the Air Force” — at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi, where she will investigate crimes.
Boehmer credits her success to a support system comprised of her family, the ROTC program and her friends. She said she is honored to have been selected and proud to represent the Air Force ROTC program at the ceremony.