The ceremonies cannot take place in a crowded auditorium this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on large gatherings. But a little creative thinking is producing two unique events.

The Army ROTC, the Cardinal Battalion, will hold a virtual commissioning ceremony beginning 10 a.m. Friday, with cadets participating from home. It will be held on Microsoft Teams and broadcast live on Facebook. (Go to the UofL Army ROTC Facebook Page: )

“Basically, we are doing a full commissioning, just not in person,” said Major Michael J. Dargavell, military science department chair and commander of UofL’s ROTC.��

The four Air Force cadets will each have individual ceremonies, said Lt. Col. O. Peter Day, aerospace studies professor and commander of the Air Force ROTC Detachment 295.

The following Army cadets will be promoted: John Gabriel Collins (political science), Zackary Thomas Golding (criminal justice), Zachary Michael Hynes (criminal justice), Paul Thomas Wallenhorst (criminal justice), Jared Zorade Harper (communication), Jordan Elaine Temme  (communication), Seth Coomes (middle and secondary education), Lisbeth Melchor (organizational leadership and learning), Richard William Goodman  (human resource and organization development), and Akissi A. R. Kouassi (human resource and organization development). Also promoted was Nolan Wesley of Bellarmine University (communication).

UofL’s Army ROTC has commissioned more than 400 officers during its 38-year history.

The four members of the U.S. Air Force’s 295th Air Force ROTC Cadet Wing to be commissioned were: Melanie Finch (criminal justice), Cameron Payne (aerospace engineering), Lacey Parham (law) and Joshua Moore (applied geography).

Lt. Col. Jessica Murnock, UofL professor of military science, said in opening remarks that the life of an Army ROTC cadet is more than classes, papers and exams. There’s also a lengthy list of training activities from physical training several mornings a week to obstacle climbing to parachuting out of airplanes and helicopters.

“They are not better or worse” than the average college student, she said. “They are just different.”

The new officers received a commission certificate, then family members pinned bars to their uniforms signifying their new rank as second lieutenants. The tradition of the first salute followed, in which the new officer presented a silver dollar to the first enlisted person who rendered a salute. For several cadets, the salute came from a family member retired from military service. Afterward, the officers recited the Oath of the Commissioned Officer and closed by singing the Army Song.

During the ceremony in Chao Auditorium, the following Army cadets were promoted:

College of Business: Leah Harper, Computer Information Systems; Matthew Whitehouse, Marketing

School of Nursing: Jacob Robinson, Nursing

Speed School of Engineering: Tyler Ley, Chemical Engineering

College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development: Kendall Howerton, Health and Human Performance/Exercise Science

Photos from the Dec. 13 ceremony by University Photographer Tom Fougerousse are .��

During the Cardinal Battalion Army ROTC ceremony in Middleton Auditorium, the cadets were each commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to their branches, including infantry and the nurse corps. All will be active duty soldiers.

The new Army officers bring to 427 the total number of officers UofL’s Army ROTC has commissioned during its 35-year history.

Guest speaker Brig. Gen. Brian Mennes, who served in Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan and is the Army’s director of force management, introduced the group as the next generation of U.S. Army leaders.

“We serve to defend what is the most powerful document in the history of mankind: the Constitution,” Mennes told the new officers and their families and friends.

Mennes encouraged the new second lieutenants to be caring, selfless, gifted leaders, adding they need to be fit not just physically, but mentally and spiritually, too.

Lt. Col. Jessica Murnock, UofL professor of military science, said in opening remarks that the commissionees had a combined average GPA of 3.64, and included two who were receiving master’s degrees.

In both ceremonies, each new officer received a commission certificate, then family members or friends pinned bars to the service members’ uniforms.

The tradition of the first salute followed, in which the new second lieutenant presented a silver dollar to the first enlisted person who rendered a salute.

The following were commissioned: Steven Bidwell, Nathaniel Cook, Louis Faust, Samantha Frank, Victoria Henry, Nicholas Kenrick, Joshua Nobile, Clayton Stanley, Eric Thompson, Monica Willard and Connor Williams.

See more Army ROTC photos .

During their ceremony in Ekstrom Library’s Chao Auditorium, the following Air Force cadets were promoted to second lieutenant: David Lewis, Aaron Patterson and Isabella Proctor.

The Air Force cadets are part of the 295^th Air Force ROTC Cadet Wing, led by Lt. Col. Jerry Crigger.

The A.J. Kramer Wingman Award was given to Patterson. Named in honor of Anthony Joseph “A.J” Kramer, an Air Force ROTC cadet who was within months of graduating from UofL in 2013 when he was killed in a motorcycle accident, the award is voted upon by the cadets to honor a graduating cadet who provides exemplary support, leads by example and demonstrates strong integrity, initiative and diplomacy.

See more Air Force ROTC photos .

Video of the Army ROTC is below: