{"id":2717,"date":"2026-02-18T21:38:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/?p=2717"},"modified":"2026-02-18T21:38:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:38:50","slug":"building-leaders-for-the-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/building-leaders-for-the-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Leaders for the Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Veterans
Veterans Day 2023 on the campus of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

EOU has a long tradition of shaping leaders of all kinds, including the military. Since the 1940s, students have arrived with ambition  and leave with purpose, strengthened by the discipline of military service and the support of dedicated staff and faculty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few represent that legacy more than Jack Johnson, ’72. Now 86, Johnson spent nearly 45 years in the military before beginning a second career in EOU\u2019s Financial Aid Office. He retired in 2001 but remains one of the most influential figures in the university\u2019s military science history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you want to be a good leader, you learn things in the military you don\u2019t learn anywhere else,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EOU\u2019s connection to military training began in 1940, when the campus prepared pilots for World War II. Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs followed and evolved as the nation’s needs changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early 1970s, amid a push to close ROTC programs, Johnson developed the curriculum for a new alternative: GOLD (Guard Officer Leadership Development). \u201cIt was the very, very first, at EOU,\u201d he said. The program began in <\/p>\n\n\n\n

La Grande and expanded nationally, serving as a platform for developing a new generation of National Guard leaders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson not only impacted military programs but also students as well. He remains most proud of those he helped. One of them, George Mendoza \u201997, Oregon\u2019s 2025 Superintendent of the Year, once sat across from him, ready to quit school. As a first-generation student, Mendoza didn\u2019t know how to afford tuition. Johnson was able to secure financial aid for him, and Mendoza went on to earn a graduate degree and serve on the founding Board of Trustees at EOU. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two remain close, and Mendoza now leads efforts to establish an ROTC program in Hermiston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember Jack as a mentor,\u201d Mendoza recalls. \u201cI remember him as a friend; he would take the time to get to know me, and encouraged my success.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s ROTC program continues that tradition of resilience and leadership. Connor Mayberry, \u201924, joined the Oregon National Guard to fund college but discovered a passion for learning through ROTC. \u201cI went from thinking I\u2019d get an associate degree to thinking a master\u2019s or doctorate wouldn\u2019t be so bad,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica McDonald, \u201924, was drawn by ROTC scholarships during the pandemic. \u201cIt paid for housing and helped with meals,\u201d she said. Now she encourages incoming students to explore ROTC without fearing enlistment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Mike Fisher \u201922, now a police officer in Boardman, EOU\u2019s current military advisors made all the difference. \u201cKerry Thompson was the biggest reason I understood the benefits EOU offered,\u201d he said. \u201cHe genuinely cares.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis university has always served the country,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cFlight school. ROTC. GOLD. We led the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And thanks to Johnson, today\u2019s cadets, and the faculty and staff who support them, that legacy continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EOU has a long tradition of shaping leaders of all kinds, including the military. Since the 1940s, students have arrived with ambition  and leave with purpose, strengthened by the discipline of military service and the support of dedicated staff and faculty. Few represent that legacy more than Jack Johnson, ’72. Now 86, Johnson spent nearly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":491,"featured_media":2748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2025"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/491"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2717"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2750,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2717\/revisions\/2750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}