(Top left) Major Dennis Campbell, Lydia Swaim, Kenasha Riggs, Neveah Hencemann, Marlene Romero Villarreal, Victor Loaiza-Andrade, Mike Christoff. (Bottom row), Alexander Erickson, Micah Brandt, River Haggstrom, Sofiya Alferow and Ethan Greenlee. photo by Stephane Sizov
JROTC is a high school program that helps teenagers develop leadership skills while competing nationally with their newfound teams.
The Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) is a program originally introduced at the Air Force Academy in 1911. Since then, it has remained one of the most well-known programs in high schools and some middle schools around. Though it is still unclear how the program was placed into schools, it has been said that the program prepares students for future military decisions, increases leadership skills, and gives students the opportunity to want to join the military. While that may be important, what does the JROTC program really offer, and why do schools have the program in the first place?
High schools around the United States have JROTC installed in their schools for the sole purpose to “teach students (Cadets) character education, student achievement, wellness, leadership, and diversity,” according to usarmyjrotc.com. The program has over 1,700 high schools in the United States and overseas. While this is very informative, Thomas Jefferson High School’s JROTC team has some unique offers for its students/cadets.
Like most schools in the United States that have JROTC, the requirement for classes is to go by the phonetic alphabet for the class periods. For example, the instructors at TJ do not have a first or sixth period class, so those periods are automatically skipped over. Instead, second and eighth period are the classes that are taught, and as mentioned before, the classes are in phonetic alphabet, starting with: Alpha (2nd), Bravo (3rd), Charlie (4th), Delta (7th) and Echo (8th). The classes do not define a cadet and they certainly are not based on grade level. A student can be a senior and have Echo as their class period and it would not mean a thing. Since JROTC is a class/program that uses military formatting, the phonetic alphabet is used for multiple daily routines, so it was initially added to the “junior” version of military. Since the class is specifically associated with military formation, marching, facing movements, and general knowledge are all included within the class.
Every Wednesday, students are required to wear their uniforms to class. For the majority of students, it’s only half a day but for a team member, it is required to be worn all day. The teams are small, but well known. To start, there is the Competitive Stomp team, Honor Platoon (HP) that excels in exhibition routines and performances. This team travels around the world and competes against other schools’ HP teams and even participates in-state competitions. Not only does this team stomp, but they also march, which is called “regulation” and they participate in inspections, which are knowledge-based questions about military history as well as state questions.
Drill team is the same as HP, except this team does everything with rifles that shoot mallets. Some other teams include: Color guard, Rifle team, JROTC Leadership & Academic Bowl (JLAB), and Raider team. Color Guard is a major team like Drill and HP, and this team does exactly the same thing, which is march, perform and participate inspections. The other three teams mentioned are small but just as important. JLAB is a team dedicated to the “brainiacs” for knowledge. Each year, a competition is held to determine which school has the most knowledge acquired. The competitions are computer-based, and that score determines their place for the school.
Rifle team is a fall only team that consists of shooting certain targets. Each target has a certain score and like many sports or activities, the goal is to aim higher and accumulate the most points. There is still one more team, the Raider team. The Raider team is like the “Olympic” team. This team can consist of two teams, and that compete against each other and other schools. Like the Olympics, the teams do various challenges that will add up to their placement for who wins first, second, third, etc. In total, all teams are connected to the JROTC class and anyone is welcome to join.
Senior Marlene Romero (HP Commander) explains how being in JROTC brings cadets together to learn how to become a closer team. “I earned my title by being dedicated to the team, I also came to every practice, put in effort, and put 110 percent into what I do which is how I got my title as well as with the help of my old HP team.” Junior River Haggstrom also demonstrates the qualities of being a leader, as he is the commander of Drill Team. “I earned my title by showing attributes to a leader during my first year on drill team, and when the original commander quit, it led me to become the commander.” discussed Haggstrom.
TJ’s Sergeant Scott Johns, Major Dennis Campbell, and Chief Charles Gaines are the instructors who should be contacted for information regarding the teams and the programs the JROTC class offers to new recruitees. If interested, please take the risk and try something new. Joining JROTC is not only for attaining leadership skills, attaining a role as a leader and many more things. It is also a way for cadets to grow closer to the instructors, and other cadets and experience self-growth by becoming more mature. Before deciding to walk past a new opportunity, think about how that opportunity could possibly change everything around in a good manner.
