JROTC student takes aim in the Turkey Shoot Fundraiser. photo by Andrew Seidenstat
JROTC takes part in their annual turkey shoot fundraiser.
Every year, the TJ JROTC class sponsors a Thanksgiving fundraiser. The annual turkey shoot takes place a week before the Spartans go on Thanksgiving break, giving students and staff the chance to earn some Thanksgiving themed prizes and give back to the community.
The Turkey shoot has been going on for eight years at TJ, each year with the same purpose. The event is done with a blind shoot, where the participant cannot see the turkey target, which is placed on the backside of a piece of shooting paper in a random spot. Participants stand at the same spot, being shown how to load and shoot the air rifles used under supervision during the event. This gives a fair chance to everybody regardless of their rifle skills. Any student with one dollar could take three shots, and a teacher could take one shot per dollar. There is no limit to how many times participants can shoot, they just have to be able to pay for each shot.
All the funds raised from the event are used by JROTC to help families who might need some extra help for Thanksgiving in the community have dinner. “We mainly do it to have a little extra cards to support those who might need it,”explained Sergeant Scott Johns. In total, the amount of money raised was $250, which was used to help pay for families’ Thanksgiving dinners.
The participants who won are Analycia Gonzales, who took first, Ricardo Aguire, who took second, and social studies teacher Victor Godoy, who took third. “It felt awesome coming off of last year’s worst shot placement and especially since it is helping families,” explained Godoy. The prize for first place was a gift card for a large ham, second was a small ham, and third place got a ham sandwich.
Every year, JROTC gives back to the community in multiple ways; either by volunteering at local community events or putting on big fundraisers. JROTC does their best to not only increase the school’s intellectual value, but also the value of the people in the community around them. This is a success every time they take on the chance to help others.The JROTC turkey shoot allows students and teachers in the TJ community to give back during the holiday season and to have fun in the process.
