Honor, courage and commitment are the three core values of Marine Corps culture, a culture that Grove City High School graduate Camille Lanese has been preparing to join her entire high school career.
During her freshman year, she joined the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps. Ran in the same way the military reserves are run, the program entailed one weekend of training every month and additional training during the summer.
“It’s basically a military program for middle school and high schoolers, a little bit younger sometimes,” says Lanese.
Lanese has attended three of these summer training programs, including a submarine seminar in Kingsbury, Georgia where she discovered that she would much rather have her feet on solid ground than be on a ship.
“I want to go Navy because it’s the branch I’m most familiar with. I don’t like ships and boats that much; I have to be honest. I get slightly seasick sometimes,” says Lanese.
While the military has been a huge part of her high school career, it’s not all that Lanese has to show for her time at GCHS. In addition to her 4.75 GPA, she has an impressive background in athletics. Her repertoire includes volleyball, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, fencing, track, cross country and, most recently, gymnastics.
“I loved (gymnastics) so much. I wish I’d done it my entire life,” says Lanese. “I improved a lot and I give that all to my coach.”
In addition to athletics, Lanese also enjoys her time in the classroom. Partial to physics, she says that even though it’s a harder class, it’s her favorite.
“I just think that’s the coolest thing to learn about,” says Lanese. “(Physics) is the world around you.”
Though physics is a favorite right now, Lanese’s future lies in linguistics. In March, she received a full ROTC scholarship to attend the University of California, Los Angeles to study linguistics. Lanese, who’s studied Latin for years, hopes to focus on Spanish and Russian, and eventually continue learning as many languages as possible.
“I feel blessed to grow up in such a great city.” - Lanese
Initially, this news caused some stress as she waited to learn if she’d be accepted to the U.S. Naval Academy as well.
“UCLA has the No. 1 food in the country. They have nice weather. They have a great program for linguistics,” says Lanese. “They have everything that I want. How am I going to say no to this for the academy?”
In the end, the choice was made for her when she was not accepted to the academy, and although UCLA was a better fit all around, she struggled with letting go of her childhood dream.
“It was just this awful feeling and then I realized that I was going to school in California and L.A.,” she says, adding that things worked out perfectly.
In addition to her academic and athletic pursuits, Lanese has also made time to give back to her community, volunteering with her school’s chapter of the National Honor Society, the Mid-Ohio Foodbank and with service programs such as Courtyard Cleanup and Bed Brigade.
Lanese ran both track and cross country at Grove City High School.
Lanese enjoyed her time at Bed Brigade, a local organization that puts together beds for people who wouldn’t otherwise have one, because it showed her that she could do things she’d never done before.
“You don’t think you can build a bed until you build a bed,” says Lanese. “It’s just rewarding in every way.”
Looking to the future, Lanese hopes her career takes her all over the world. Though she says she’s already been blessed with opportunities to travel to Ireland, England, Italy and France with her family, she hopes to continue traveling. Lanese wants to eventually be stationed somewhere around the Mediterranean, with dreams of traveling to southeast Asia.
“I don’t need a lot of stuff,” says Lanese. “I just want to travel.”
While the next part of her journey will lead her clear across the country, Lanese is grateful for her foundations. In addition to her family, she credits Grove City teachers for much of her high school success.
“I feel blessed to grow up in such a great city.”
Bianca Wilson is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.