Parkview grad orienteers his way to West Point

There’s one thing Gunnery Sergeant David Erwin wants to make clear. Parkview’s Marine ROTC is not a recruiting service for the military.

“This is a character development program that focuses on leadership, good citizenship and helping students make the right decisions for their lives,” Erwin said.

The program, which has doubled in the past two years, puts cadets into leadership positions in their community, from working at Atlanta Hawks games to feeding severely disabled patients at the Veterans Hospital.

“Kids are not used to seeing people that require constant care, but the Parkview kids were prepared and jumped right in helping out and assisting in feeding the patients,” Erwin said

And with all this exposure to the real world, some cadets do opt for the military. And sometimes they draw on the skills they acquired through ROTC to do that. Such was the case with John Williams, Gwinnett’s newest appointee to West Point.

Williams said when he signed up for ROTC, he joined the orienteering team partly because his dad had been on a Marines orienteering team, but mainly because he feels orienteering is in his blood. In fact, after winning several national titles of his own, last year he led his team, Louie Roger, Billy Gauspohl, and Rob Romaine to a national championship.

Williams also felt he had the military in his blood and had planned to go to North Georgia College, which just happens to have the best ROTC orienteering team in the nation.

He was all set to go, when a major obstacle popped up in his path. 

“I was sitting in a comfort zone and didn’t apply for a scholarship because I assumed there was money I could use freely,” Williams said, “but due to unforeseen circumstances, the money wasn’t there. I didn’t have a plan B going into it.”

So this orienteering expert had to shift direction and explore other paths. 

Since his dad was career military, he was eligible for a nomination to West Point, a place he’d never dreamed of going in high school, but was worth a shot.

“It was a long process and I went through all my elected officials, but didn’t get a nomination from any of them,” Williams said.

Things did not look hopeful, but whatever he did or wrote on his application forms, it showed Williams had some sort of skill in finding his way to wherever he wanted to go.

“Most cadets don’t hear about their acceptance until February 15, but the day after Thanksgiving, a package came in the mail. It was a big leather bound certificate stating I was appointed to West Point,” Williams said.

Despite his expertise in orienteering, Williams won’t take the credit for the turn his life has taken. He stands firm in saying, “If it weren’t for Parkview’s ROTC and their orienteering program, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

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