ODENTON — For generations, Americans have raised their right hand and pledged to support and defend the Constitution.
PG County teen takes same oath as generations before him
As the country prepares to mark America’s 250th anniversary, 18-year-old Adedamola Adewoye, of Prince George’s County, is beginning his own journey in service.
Adewoye recently took the oath to join the Maryland Army National Guard, standing before his family as he repeated the words sworn by generations of service members before him.
“I’m going to protect my country. I’m serving these people,” Adewoye said. “I’m part of a larger community now.”
For Adewoye, the decision started with family. His aunt had recently joined the National Guard and left for basic training. After learning the Guard could help pay for school, Adewoye began looking into the same path.
“She was like, yeah, that’s the way to pay for school,” Adewoye said. “So I was like, OK, I want to look into that.”
That path led him to the Minuteman Scholarship, an Army ROTC scholarship connected to service in the Army National Guard or Army Reserve. The scholarship can help cover college costs while putting students on a path to commission as officers after graduation.
Adewoye said the process took paperwork, interviews and preparation, but he had already built a strong academic foundation. He recently graduated from high school while also earning an associate degree in health sciences.
“I just graduated high school and college,” Adewoye said. “I graduated high school with my diploma, and while I was in high school all four years, I was taking college courses to graduate with my associate’s in health sciences.”
He said he walked the stage with honors.
This fall, Adewoye plans to attend Rutgers University-New Brunswick, where he will study psychology. He said his long-term goal is to work in mental health counseling, potentially helping veterans through the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“With my psych degree, I was planning to go into mental health counseling,” Adewoye said. “That was another reason I wanted to go through the National Guard, because with mental health counseling I could work with veterans and work in the VA.”
His parents said his decision to join the military was not easy to process at first.
His mother, Lara Adewoye, said her first reaction was fear and concern.
“My prior perception was, oh, they just bunch them up and send them off somewhere,” she said.
She said the family had not previously had service members on either side, making the decision feel unfamiliar. But after learning more about the military community and watching her son take the oath, that concern began turning into pride.
“It was a sense of seriousness,” she said. “You felt that seriousness in the atmosphere, that commitment.”
His parents said they are proud of the work he put in to earn the scholarship.
“It wasn’t just something that was handed to him,” Lara Adewoye said. “He had to earn it.”
For the family, the day also reflected something bigger. As a family with Nigerian roots, they said seeing diversity among the people entering military service helped ease some of their concerns.
“It’s good to see how far the country has come in terms of inclusion and diversity,” Lara Adewoye said. “I’m happy to see that he would not find himself in a place where he doesn’t see people who look like him.”
Adewoye said taking the oath made him feel connected to the military and to a larger purpose.
“The words were registering to me,” he said. “These are people that have the same interest as me — to protect, to serve, to defend this nation.”
As he prepares for Rutgers, ROTC and training with the Guard, Adewoye said he hopes others his age know their path does not have to be set in stone.
“Whatever works best for you is what you should do,” Adewoye said. “This works best for me. It aligns with my career goals, aligns with my goals for myself, my morals.”
For Adewoye, an old oath marks the start of a new chapter — one that connects service, education, family and a future helping those who have wo
