2022-2023 School Year for Army JROTC
Welcome to the Spring JROTC Newsletter! We’ve got a lot of exciting events coming up, and we can’t wait to share them with you.
Let’s recap our March news, with events our JROTC cadets have executed.
On March 7th, JROTC had its battalion inspection that’s conducted every 3 years, which determines whether or not the program stays at PCHS! This is how we receive our gold star for every uniform, by passing the inspection and following through with pride and professionalism. The gold star represents Honor of Distinction, and because of our success, we get to keep it! We are beyond proud of how well our cadets did during the inspection, and we hope to do the same, if not better in the future!
A few weeks later, on March 25th, our drill team was invited to Waukegan Illinois to compete against another twenty-five schools! Everybody enjoyed the trip, and we’re excited to finish out the year with success. We are very proud of our drill team for making it this far into the season with valuable memories and the time we’ve spent to make all of this possible.
Now that we’re in April, we’ve had a small break from competitions. We have a couple of events on Friday, April 28th. During school hours, JROTC seniors have an opportunity to enjoy a helicopter ride! Although there's no specific catch to this, it allows seniors to enjoy their last couple of weeks before they graduate. Later in the day, from 5-8, PCHS is hosting a carnival. JROTC will have a pull-up bar stationed outside of room E111. Test your ability to hold up on a bar, and have your name on our top 5 scoreboards! All participants receive a piece of candy of their choice.
Finally, our upcoming events will finish off our year: our final drill competition, our award ceremony, an honor guard table, and graduation. All of these events take place in May, starting on the 1st.
On May 1st three cadets in JROTC represented our program in PCHS’s Dragon Pride. We have our own table, with a display of our archery bow and arrow, as well as a rifle. We also play a video on TV to show photos of what we do here in JROTC, such as PT, Drill, and outside school events like JCLC, JLAB, and many more.
On May 3rd, our drill team will leave for Daytona Beach Florida, and compete on Friday the 5th. They will return home on the 9th and leave with the best success! This is a huge deal for the drill team, as we finish the year strong and show pride in our school and the program!
The following week on May 11th, JROTC has our yearly award ceremony, where we show appreciation to our seniors before we send them off. This award ceremony also presents the new battalion commander, and chain of command, and awards to cadets who have shown leadership capabilities and much more.
On May 19th, our color guard team will present the colors at the PCHS graduation. This will be conducted before the ceremony starts.
And our final event in May is on the 22nd at the iToo hall, where our honor guard team will do a POW/MIA Ceremony to toast those no longer here with us. We are grateful to have our cadets present a memorial as an appreciation to fallen soldiers.
We are grateful for all that family and friends have done for the program this year, and we’re more than happy to finish out with a bang!
Sergeant Major (Retired) David Merritt (309) 347-4101/4382
First Sergeant (Retired) Julio Rodriguez (309) 477-4379/4382