Providence, RI--A multi-media slideshow featuring a Providence College student in the College's ROTC program is currently being shown as part of a series observing the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq on the Christian Science Monitor's Web site.

The slideshow highlights Sara K. Stowell '09 of Charlotte, N.C., a junior enrolled in the ROTC program. Interviewed recently on campus by the Monitor, Stowell appears in the three-part series Five Years in Iraq.

The slideshow can be seen at http://www.csmonitor.com/slideshows/2008/iraq_five4/

Stowell's portion of the series is called "ROTC: Growing up during wartime," which focuses on her and a cadet from Tufts University. Stowell is currently rotating leadership positions in the College's Patriot Battalion. Next year, she will be a company commander or battalion staff officer after completing Leader Development Advance Camp at Fort Lewis, Wash.

In the slideshow, which shows snapshots of cadets taking part in classroom and physical training in Alumni Hall, Stowell talks about why she became involved with the ROTC program and what she plans to do when her commitment to the U.S. Army is completed.

She also speaks openly about the prospects of her going to war and the strength she has gained by being a part of the program.

"Early on, I didn't know if I could do that, but the older you get, you know you are being equipped with the tools that will make this work," she said.

The ROTC program at PC was founded in 1951 and has commissioned nearly 1,800 officers since its inception. In addition to students from PC, students from Brown University, Bryant University, Johnson & Wales University, Rhode Island College, and the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth currently serve in the Patriot Battalion.

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