ROTC cadet Isabella Lee is a physics and neuroscience major who perseveres through difficult work and then enjoys sharing what she’s learned with other students.
Isabella Lee’s academic journey involves arduous uphill climbs, but reaching the summit is a matter of staying true to her interests. “If I’m going to school, I should be studying what I’m passionate about,” says Lee ’22, who is combining a major in physics with an integrated learning major in neuroscience in the College of Arts and Sciences. “If I don’t, I’m setting myself up for failure.”
One reason Lee enrolled at Syracuse University is the myriad opportunities. “None of the other schools I applied to offered as many options as Syracuse and the ability to combine programs,” she says. Along with her academic pursuits, Lee is a peer coach for the physics department, a cadet in the U.S. Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) who serves on the recruitment team, and a member of the international STEM sorority Alpha Omega Epsilon. As an ROTC scholarship recipient, she is honored to be part of the country’s longest continuously running Army ROTC program. “It’s one of the best programs in the nation, and I wanted to train with the best so I’ll be the best officer I can be when I graduate,” she says. “Not only is the ROTC a great way to build your leadership skills and professionalism, but I’ll be serving my country, and I think it’s important to find a way to serve.”
Carrying on a Family Military Legacy
As an ROTC cadet, Lee represents the fourth generation of a military legacy in her family. Her father is an Army veteran, and two older sisters serve in the military. Like many military families, they moved frequently during her childhood, with Hawaii, Virginia, Texas and Germany among the stops. “I’ve been all over,” she says. “Honestly it was difficult, because you don’t have that hometown and have to keep making new friends, but I wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the world. It was amazing. I got to see Europe when I was only 12 years old.”
Lee arrived in Syracuse from Buford, Wyoming, where the family settled when she was a junior in high school. Buford, she says, is well known for its lone gas station with a sign touting the town’s population of one. She gets a kick out of sharing this quirky nod to the history of the town as her go-to fun fact in class ice-breakers.