For Jacqueline Page, being an Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadet is one of the biggest parts of who she is as a person, just like it was for Timothy Michael Cardwell when he attended Syracuse University in the 1980s.
Cardwell’s life, though, was cut short. He never got to serve as an active duty Army officer, like Page might. He was killed when a terrorist bombing destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988.
This year, Page, an SU senior, is representing Cardwell as part of the Remembrance Scholars program, which honors the 35 SU students killed on Pan Am. The group was returning to the United States after studying abroad in Europe.
Recently, Page read a quote from Cardwell’s parents about his ambition, which she hopes to embody.
“Tim’s goal was to excel physically, mentally and spiritually,” Cardwell’s parents wrote. “He loved life, his family, his country and his God. He strived to be the best whether he was on stage, behind stage, jumping out of planes or repelling down a cliff. The song of his heart always showed through the broad smile on his face.”
Page, who was adopted from China after being abandoned in a field when she was 6 months old, could be the first female cadet from SU to ever be an Army armor officer. She recently learned that, after graduation, she could be managing tank units.
“ROTC is probably the biggest part of my identity. Anybody who knows me on campus knows me as Jackie Page: ROTC,” Page said. “I’m proud to be an ROTC cadet.”
Cardwell shared that pride. He was a volunteer in the ROTC Ranger Program and completed the JROTC Camp Challenge Program.
ROTC is probably the biggest part of my identity. Anybody who knows me on campus knows me as Jackie Page: ROTC.Jacqueline Page
Page, meanwhile, has participated in Army missions helping teach English to the Mongolian military. She spent months in Germany trying to bridge a gap between the U.S. military and NATO at the United States European Command.
Lt. Col. Jason Warner, department chair of SU’s Army ROTC, said the battalion has a special connection to Remembrance Week, via Cardwell. By understanding what Cardwell lost, the Pan Am Flight 103 tragedy can help his cadets appreciate future accomplishments, Warner said.
“(Page) can achieve many of the things that (Cardwell) wasn’t able to achieve in the Army, and in life, and carrying that legacy forward,” he said.
While both Cardwell and Page attended the university on ROTC scholarships, they took different academic paths. Cardwell studied drama. Page studies international relations and television, radio and film.
“Both of us are Army ROTC cadets who really wanted to strive to be the best cadet possible,” Page said. “But (we) also strive in our own fields and recognize that we don’t need to fit into the cookie cutter idea of what an Army officer is.”
This year, Jacqueline Page is representing Timothy Michael Cardwell as a Remembrance Scholar. Ally Moreo | Photo Editor
And, much like Cardwell, Page shares a love of travel.
One of Page’s life goals is to go to all seven continents before she turns 22. At 21, she’s been to six of the continents, including Antarctica. She’ll travel to Australia after graduation.
Page is also involved with Delta Kappa Alpha, the professional film-focused fraternity. Her “big” in the fraternity, Abby O’Reilly, said she and Page bonded over their love of travel.
“She’s always looking for ways to further her community,” O’Reilly said. “She’s always very concerned about leaving her mark and representing the school and the student body well and leaving a lasting impact.”
The two traveled to Greece together for Page’s honors capstone, creating a documentary about refugees there. When Page was a baby, her parents promised to try and make her a “citizen of the world,” her mother said.
A poem by Julianne Frances Kelly, another victim of the bombing, embodies Page’s lifestyle, Page said.
“You think you may have everything you need, and you do. We all do. But life is a lot better when we take the chance by complicating it with caring about people,” a line from the poem reads.
She’s always very concerned about leaving her mark and representing the school and the student body well and leaving a lasting impact.Abby O’Reilly
And, people in Page’s life — family, friends, professors and commanders — all described her as an outgoing, approachable, traveling global citizen.
“She’s also pretty funny,” said Karen Hall, an assistant director of the Renée Crown University Honors Program. “She came into my class one morning and lifted up her shirt and showed me this huge rash on her stomach and said, ‘What should I do about this?’”
The rash was a bad reaction to an immunization shot Page had gotten to travel to Mongolia on an ROTC mission. She was in the hospital for days.
Page’s mother said representing the U.S. Army is Page’s way of saying thank you to her country.
She’s looking forward to the future. But, right now, her priority is remembering the past. Her priority is Remembrance Week.
“They all lived life to the fullest in their way,” she said of the students killed on Pan Am Flight 103. “That’s just something I love to see … I get really emotional when I talk about them because I see myself as Timothy, and (I see) how life is just taken for granted sometimes.”
Published on October 24, 2017 at 1:23 am
Contact Catherine: ccleffer@syr.edu | @ccleffert
