Rear Adm. Stephen C. Evans, commander, Naval Service Training Command, visited the Naval ROTC Houston Consortium Unit at Prairie View A&M University and Rice University, Jan. 27-28.

Evans, who was making his first visit to the unit, briefed the midshipmen on leadership and how to set themselves up for success in their naval careers.

In his brief, Evans told midshipmen to focus on their academics and leadership while in the NROTC program, as the Navy and Marine Corps need leaders who have perspective, who can learn, and who can lead. He also explained how important it is for a leader to focus on his subordinates alongside the overall mission, and how doing so is imperative for one's own development as a naval officer.

Evans added that mentorship in the Navy is very important, and the mentoring he received from people helped him get to where he is today.

"I was struck by Rear Adm. Evans' strategy for balancing his family life with his career," said Midshipman 3rd Class Stephanie Santos, a sophomore at Texas Southern University from Staten Island, New York. "He makes sure that his family knows exactly why he is going away when he deploys, so they understand and support him. I think that letting your children see your workplace is very important, and I plan on doing that myself if I ever have kids."

Evans oversees the NROTC program as commander of Naval Service Training Command (NSTC) at Naval Station Great Lakes. NROTC was established to develop midshipmen mentally, morally and physically. Additionally, it was to imbue them with the highest ideals of the Navy Core Values in order to commission college graduates as naval officers. These officers would possess a basic professional background, be motivated toward careers in the naval service, and they would have a potential for future development in mind and character. This all being in preparation for the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government.

NSTC oversees 98 percent of initial officer and enlisted accessions training for the Navy, as well as the Navy's Citizenship Development program. NSTC includes Recruit Training Command, the NROTC at more than 160 colleges and universities, Officer Training Command Newport, and Navy Junior ROTC and Navy National Defense Cadet Corps citizenship development programs at more than 600 high schools worldwide.

For more information about NROTC, visit www.nrotc.navy.mil.

For more information about NSTC, visit www.netc.navy.mil/nstc or visit the NSTC Facebook pages at www.facebook.com/NavalServiceTraining.

For more information about Rice NROTC visit: http://nrotc.rice.edu/ or http://www.facebook.com/RiceNROTC

For more information about Prairie View A&M NROTC visit https://www.pvamu.edu/nrotc/ or visit the Prairie View A&M NROTC Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pvamunrotc/.

For more news from Naval Service Training Command, visit http://www.navy.mil/.