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CORVALLIS, Ore. – Matthew Morneault, an Army ROTC cadet from Oregon State University, has received a George C. Marshall Award as one of the top cadets in the country and will travel to Lexington, Va., to take part in a national security seminar with military leaders.

The seminar, which takes place April 15-17, will focus on world events in the Middle East, Far East and Africa, as well as countering global terrorism and the challenges facing Homeland Security. It is named after Gen. George C. Marshall, a famed World War II military leader and recipient of the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to revitalize Europe after the war.

Morneault, a senior from Sweet Home and a graduate of Sweet Home High School, earned the honor as the top Army ROTC cadet at OSU, according to Lt. Col. Michael J. Daniels, a professor of military science at Oregon State.

“Cadet Morneault has really excelled during his time here,” Daniels said. “In addition to his ROTC activities, where he has served this year as our Cadet Battalion Commander, he is active in community service and has earned honors recognition eight times in a very difficult civil engineering major.”

Last year, Morneault was one of 50 cadets in the nation to receive an Itschner Award, given to outstanding ROTC students in engineering.

This is the 32nd year the Marshall ROTC Seminar has drawn top cadets from around the country for leadership training.

“I’m deeply honored to be selected from among all of the seniors in the Army ROTC program here to represent my school,” Morneault said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I’m sure that it will give me insights that I can put to immediate use when I become a lieutenant in a few weeks.”

Morneault is scheduled to be commissioned on June 12 this year, when he will become a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.