Cadet Frankie Celentano ’20 is the recipient of the inaugural First Dominion Citizen-Soldier Scholarship. The electrical engineering major spent much of his cadet time and energy working on a radio controlled robot aimed at controlling urban tick populations.
Celentano ’20: Love for the Lab By Molly Rolon, Associate Editor Cadet Frankie Celentano ’20 is a bright young man who moves easily between VMI’s academics and his leadership role in the Corps. The recipient of the inaugural First Dominion Citizen-Soldier Scholarship, he’s studying electrical engineering but seems equally comfortable in other realms. The undergraduate project that takes much of his time and energy is a radio controlled robot aimed at controlling urban tick populations. The small robot lures ticks in and kills them with insecticide. With this project, Celentano crosses into both the coding aspect of computer science and the building aspect of mechanical engineering. He “fell in love” with his major. “I really enjoy what I’m doing, so it’s no problem to go into the lab for three, four hours at a time,” he said. The day before Thanksgiving break, he was so engrossed in his work that he spent nine straight hours in the lab. “I just really enjoy what I’m doing,” he explained. As an Institute Honors Scholar, Celentano takes varied classes – not necessarily related to his major – and is taking a Shakespeare course this semester. “That’s great, because it gets me back into reading,” he said, noting that electrical engineers often don’t have much time for reading. Celentano enjoys “logical discussions” with his fellow honors cadets. The Institute Honors Program exposes cadets to current, worldwide
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events through semester-long seminars. More than keeping them up to date, it allows for dialogues among people with “a pretty decent mix of opinions – which I enjoy,” Celentano said. On the military side, Celentano has been part of cadre since his 3rd Class year. He started out as a company clerk, was a company first sergeant last year and is now the company executive officer. While he spent plenty of time training rats, he feels that 2nd Class cadets also need mentorship. “It’s their first time in a leadership position in front of rats and also their first time having leadership over other cadets,” he said. “I think its more important than to just train the rats.” The news that his education would be fully funded was “phenomenal,” remembered Celentano, who has two younger sisters. Without the scholarship, he likely would be graduating with a large amount of debt; this way, his parents’ resources can go to help with his sisters’ education. When he came to VMI, Celentano was initially drawn toward military service. As he learned more about electrical engineering and grew to love the discipline, he felt he could provide significant service to the country as a civilian. He would like to serve by developing weapons and control systems; he’ll be doing just that. He was recently hired by Boeing and will be working at the company’s St. Louis, Missouri, operation.
VMI Alumni Review