3 Hillsdale College graduating seniors commissioned into U.S. Marine Corps
HILLSDALE — Hillsdale College graduating seniors Tomasz Ignatik and Joseph Randolph were commissioned as second lieutenants of the U.S. Marine Corps Saturday, May 11.
A third graduating senior, Joseph Hardenbergh, will be commissioned this summer. The college hosted an outdoor ceremony at the Civil War Soldiers’ Monument on May 11 to honor the students’ achievement and willingness to serve.
Peter Jennings, associate professor of management and a former Marine infantry officer, provided an address at the ceremony.
“In the history of our republic, the final guarantee of constitutional self-government has been the willingness of patriotic and able men and women to stand and to serve,” Jennings said. “As military men and women, it is not their task to become embroiled in the great ongoing partisan battles nor to despair of their intractability. Their task is simply to stand and to serve. To learn war and to deploy to some remote outpost, to keep watch, to fight and, if necessary, to die in order to keep the wolves away from the house. In so doing, these men and women serve the common good in this one indispensable way: They give constitutional self-government and the inalienable right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. One more chance for one more generation.”
Ignatik of Utica, Ohio, majored in English. He was a member of the wrestling club, the 1844 Society and the Catholic Society. He also volunteered with A Few Good Men and Military Mentorship and worked with the maintenance and security departments at the college.
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Randolph of Ann Arbor majored in history. On campus, he played club rugby and intramural basketball and beach volleyball. He also volunteered with a Few Good Men and Military Mentorship and worked as a resident adviser for the Simpson Dormitory.
Hardenbergh of Northville majored in biology. At Hillsdale, he played on the Charger baseball team and belonged to the Athletes InterVarsity. Because of his obligations to the Charger baseball team, Hardenbergh could not receive his commission at the ceremony. He will receive it later this summer.
— Contact Reporter Corey Murray at cmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Hillsdale College grads commissioned into U.S. Marine Corps
