By Sean Conboy (DC'08)

Sam Thompson trudges down a hill under a charcoal autumn sky. It’s 7:15 AM, and most of his Carnegie Mellon classmates are probably still in bed, but the mechanical engineering major is up and en route to an ROTC Unit building for an Amphibious Warfare lecture. On his back, Thompson carries a five-pound rucksack full of intelligence. A Pop Tart, his morning rations, is clutched in his ungloved hand.

ROTC is a college-based program that trains commissioned officers of the United States armed forces, but Thompson doesn’t consider himself a soldier in training as much as he considers himself a Spartan. “The Spartan ethos is about hardship, sacrifice, and not backing down from a challenge,” he says. It’s his mantra, solidified in high school after he read One Bullet Away: the Making of a Marine Officer (Houghton Mifflin, 2005). The author, Ivy League grad Nathaniel Fick, turned down six-figure finance jobs to join the Marines.

Like Fick, Thompson had opportunities for a path to a cushier life. He was recruited by nearly every college football team in the Ivy League, but he says he chose CMU because of its top-notch engineering program and the fact that the ROTC program would let him join the Marines instead of the Army. After graduating next May, he must serve at least four years of active duty, but if he becomes a pilot, which is the plan, that will extend his service to eight years. Thompson says he is up for the challenge and where it will lead him.

Certainly, his daily routine is Spartan worthy. The early-morning trek marks just the beginning of nonstop challenges. After Amphibious Warfare, there will barely be enough time to sprint up the hill to his Doherty apartment to change out of the stuffy collared shirt of his PCA (Proper Civilian Attire) and into a hoodie. Then, it will be off to classes from 10:30 AM to 4:20 PM, during which time he will fill his head with the calculus and differential equations of mechanical engineering. After that, he will have only 10 minutes before football practice starts. And he’ll need every second to get his ankles taped in the training room and warm up his knee, which was surgically reconstructed after a football injury.

His perpetual motion leading up to practice translates into a relentless doggedness in the secondary of the Tartans’ defense. Last season, the defensive back’s seven interceptions tied the CMU record and ranked him second in ‘pics’ among all Division III players. Yet he practices like he must win a spot on the team.

After hitting the showers, there’s no time for watching television, playing Xbox, or taking a nap. He’s off to a session on submariner strategy and thermodynamics, followed by a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting.

Sometime after 8 PM, he’ll be free to begin his homework, which he does diligently as reflected by his 3.93 GPA. Once done, it’s sleep. The next day, it all starts again.

Related Links:
Sam Thompson: The Journey of a Student-Athlete from Tennessee to the Top of the Record Books