Army ROTC cadet Isaac Todd '11 has been ranked No. 7 among more than 5,000 Army cadets nationwide on the Army's Order of Merit List (OML), the Army's public affairs office announced Nov. 16.

The OML ranks all Army ROTC seniors across the nation, with the top 20 percent earning the designation of Distinguished Military Graduate. This year there are 1,068 Distinguished Military Graduates.

A cadet's OML position determines his or her priority in being chosen for the limited number of active duty positions, and increases his or her chance at getting the branch of occupational specialty of choice.

Excelsior Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Steven Alexander praised Todd's strong sense of duty, work ethic, leadership skills and maturity.

"He is constantly in motion, in some way improving himself and those around him," Alexander said. "He takes a lot of pride at what he does; he's driven to succeed at anything he takes on."

Cadets are ranked based on grade point average, athletic performance in the Army physical fitness test and college athletics, leadership skills in college ROTC training and their performance at the Leader Development and Assessment Course (LDAC) at Joint Base Lewis-McChord outside Tacoma, Wash.

Todd was also honored at LDAC: Of the 500 cadets in his regiment, he was named the No. 2 cadet for leadership and received the Platoon Leadership Award.

Along with ROTC, Todd is active in Cornell's Model United Nations, the speech and debate team, the Peer Review Board, Phi Alpha Delta pre-law fraternity, Cornell Outdoor Education and Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

Todd holds key leadership positions both within and outside ROTC, said Alexander, and inspires others by example.

"Cornell should be fiercely proud of what they're producing: outstanding cadets, outstanding students, outstanding citizens. [Todd] is all those things," he said. "He really seized all the opportunities that Cornell provides. We're proud of him."