Two members of the Reserve Officers Training Corps at Kansas University were among the 55 students commissioned as military officers this week in a ceremony at the White House.

KU students Michelle Davis, an Army ROTC cadet, and Michele Dierks, a Navy ROTC midshipman, were chosen to attend Thursday’s ceremony.

The students who attended represented all 50 states, the District of Columbia and all U.S. territories. Davis, a native of Lester, Iowa, represented Iowa. Dierks, of Colorado Springs, represented Kansas.

“This is the biggest honor you can have,” Davis said in a prepared statement.

President Bush hosted the ceremony and spoke to the group. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates issued the oath of office.

Davis will graduate from KU on Sunday with an MBA. Her next station will be at Fort Hood, Texas, where she will be a finance officer.

Dierks will receive a bachelor’s degree in exercise science. Her next station is Pensacola, Fla., where she will attend flight school.

It was the first joint commissioning ceremony for cadets and midshipmen and the first time a defense secretary administered the oath of office, according to the military.