RIT ROTC graduate Ryn Pease prepares for career in military intelligence and public affairs

Rochester, New York – For Ryn Pease, college was never going to be limited to lecture halls and textbooks. Her years at the Rochester Institute of Technology became a balancing act between military training, global studies, leadership development, and an academic path she built largely on her own terms.

Now, as graduation arrives, Pease is preparing to take the next step into military service while pursuing a career connected to intelligence, communications, and public affairs.

Pease, an ROTC cadet at Rochester Institute of Technology, completed a Bachelor of Science degree in military and political communication through the university’s School of Individualized Study. At the same time, she trained through the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program, combining academics with the discipline and demands of military preparation.

Rather than entering full-time active military service immediately after graduation, Pease chose a part-time pathway. She will be commissioned as a military intelligence officer in the Army Reserve and assigned to a unit based at Fort Meade. Her commitment includes monthly weekend drills and annual training exercises over the next eight years.

The ROTC program initially drew her in for several reasons at once — physical challenges, leadership opportunities, financial support, and career stability after college.

“All those things together sold ROTC to me,” said Pease, from Uxbridge.

Over time, however, the experience became about more than structure and opportunity. Pease said the program gradually changed how she viewed her own abilities as a leader.

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That confidence became especially clear during a six-week ROTC Advanced Camp training program held last summer at Fort Knox. The intensive assessment brings together cadets from across the country and places them in demanding leadership and tactical scenarios designed to evaluate performance under pressure.

“Going to training and having people I don’t know come to me for advice on how to run a mission or how to read an OPORD (operations order), which is the document we get in a mission environment, made me realize that I know more than I thought I did,” Pease said.

The Advanced Camp represents one of the Army’s major evaluation stages for ROTC cadets before they move into commissioned service. Leadership ability, fitness, decision-making, and problem-solving skills all factor into future military placement decisions.

“The assessment is one of the last major milestones that feeds the Army job-placement process that determines how cadets will fulfill their mandatory service obligation,” said Michael Sim.

RIT’s ROTC program, known as the Tiger Battalion, includes approximately 60 cadets from colleges throughout the Rochester area, with most enrolled at RIT itself. According to Sim, nine cadets are expected to receive commissions this May, including six RIT students and three students from the University of Rochester.

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“RIT’s Tiger Battalion will commission nine cadets this May—six students will graduate from RIT, and three will graduate from the University of Rochester,” Sim said. “Outside of Cadet Pease, six cadets will enter Active Duty and two cadets will serve in the National Guard. These new officers will serve in the following branches: infantry, field artillery, cyber, logistics, and military police.”

For Pease, military service was only one side of her college experience. Her academic focus reflected a growing interest in communications, international affairs, and media literacy. Instead of following a traditional major, she enrolled in the School of Individualized Study, where students design customized degree programs built around their interests and career goals.

“SOIS helped me synthesize what I actually want to do because of the freedom to take a lot of different courses that worked with my degree,” she said. “I had also come to RIT to do a Chinese minor, and I completed it last semester.”

Her interest in international cultures and global communication stretched far beyond the classroom. During high school, Pease visited China, an experience that sparked a desire to continue exploring the world during college.

At RIT, she pursued that goal through study and travel opportunities abroad. One trip took her to Taipei through an RIT Global program, while another brought her to Riga through an outside organization focused on journalism and international media.

During spring break, she participated in an immersive course at Media Hub Riga, which supports independent journalists working in exile. The program explored media literacy and the role information plays in regions affected by conflict and political instability.

“It was about media literacy and the Baltics, specifically, but also media literacy in conflict zones or places that have seen conflict,” she said.

As she prepares for life after graduation, Pease is already thinking beyond military training alone. She hopes to pursue work in public affairs or policy advising, areas where she can use the security clearance obtained through ROTC while building a career connected to communication and national security.

Eventually, she plans to relocate closer to Fort Meade in Maryland and continue her education, potentially studying international relations or law.

Her path reflects a generation of students blending military service with broader ambitions in diplomacy, communication, and public policy. For Pease, the future appears unlikely to follow a single lane. Instead, much like her college experience, it may continue to move between worlds — military intelligence, international affairs, and the complicated intersection where information and global conflict increasingly meet.