APRIL 19, 2025 – The Pentagon hosted four groups of high school and college students and staff from around the country, April 11-17, to teach them about Defense Department priorities, missions and initiatives.
The program, “Beyond the Battlefield,” aims to build public understanding and trust in the department while highlighting some of the ways DOD works to defend the nation and deter aggression, both on and off the battlefield.
Additionally, the program introduces students to potential career paths in national defense while seeking to inspire the next generation of national leaders to public service.
Those attending the program included 24 students and staff members from Georgetown University; 16 ROTC cadets and cadre members from the University of Chicago’s Air Force Detachment 195; 22 high school students and faculty members from the Rogers Scholars program at the St. George’s School in Middletown, Rhode Island; and roughly 20 high school Junior ROTC cadets and staff members from Georgia’s Bibb County School District.
During each approximately three-hour visit to the Pentagon, the groups took a guided tour of the building, followed by interaction with DOD staff in the press briefing room that included round-robin briefings and Q&A panel discussions.
“I talk to students all the time, and I mean it when I say it — sincerely — that you all are the future of this country,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell told the St. George’s School students during their visit.
“Regardless of what you choose to do, whether it’s to serve in government, serve in the military, start your own business — whatever you like — your ability to tell your own story will be the difference between success and failure in a lot of ways,” he continued.
Parnell also told the students the biggest takeaway he hopes they get from their visit is they figure out an “awesome, creative and inspiring way” to tell their own individual stories.
“My visit to the Pentagon today was really informative,” Kelly Buban, a St. George’s School senior, said via a DOD social media video. “I was able to be inspired by what it would be like to be a part of the press … [to be] in press room briefings, and how that would work internationally and domestically here in the U.S.”
Army Maj. Ed Putzier is a strategic data officer for DOD’s Office of the Chief Information Officer and a Georgetown University alumnus who got to interact with students from his alma mater.
“This engagement was important to me because I got to see some young, up-and-coming Georgetown students who are very interested in working for the government and providing service to the American people,” Putzier said, adding that he encouraged the students to find a way into public service because of how rewarding it can be.
“My almost 11 years in uniform have also spoken to that, and I have felt very rewarded doing it, as well,” he added.
Jupiter Huang, a senior at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service who studies foreign affairs and national security, said the visit was “inspiring, motivating and rededicating.”
“I think this tour really cemented for me why I do the work that I do, and sort of the sacrifice that goes behind every sort of measure that we make, every policy that we talk about in class and at work. … It has real impacts on lives,” Huang said.” I really appreciate what [the Pentagon] and the people who work here mean for me and my family and all those in our community,” he added.
The program was hosted by the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.
By Matthew Olay, DOD News