Golden Apple: BHS JROTC Celebrates Accomplishments With Military Ball
The students that take part in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps at Bemidji High School have a lot of reasons to be proud, and a few of those reasons were spotlighted at their 14th annual Military Ball.
“Really, the whole Military Ball, it’s almost like putting on a wedding, and these are high school students that are kind of organizing and planning an entire wedding by themselves,” says JROTC Instructor John Naastad.
“I guide my subordinates to work projects such as getting donors for it. Really, it’s a wide variety so preparations of cadets for the ball and preparation of the event itself,” says Mark Fitzgerald, Cadet Lieutenant Colonel in the JROTC.
The students have been planning this event since December, covering every detail from the glassware and the food to the venue and programming.
Fitzgerald says, “It’s really an honor to be to work with these people and to be able to be up at the head table and claim some of this hard work for my own.”
The work shown at the ball is only a fraction of what the JROTC members do. The JROTC program is student-led, so they teach a lot of the course to their peers. The program also focuses on community service and leadership.
“When I can in here, I was kind of shy and was kind of hoping for an easy A, which wasn’t the case. I’ve worked really hard for my ranks,” says Neil Hall, Battalion Command Sergeant Major in the JROTC.
“One of probably the most misunderstood aspects of the JROTC is that it’s kind of a path towards military when there’s very little military that we actually teach. It’s just a structure that we can really put the kids in dynamic situations to teach leadership,” says Naastad.
Conner Vleck, Cadet Major in the JROTC, adds, “It’s applicable anywhere I go, from working at McDonald’s to college life, even to working and moving on into a career. Being a leader is something that is never bad. It’s allowed me to become a better public speaker and just better at talking. It’s also been a great tool at enhancing myself physically and becoming stronger.”
Through all the training to be better than they were the day before, the students naturally get close to each other, making this celebration all the more special.
“It really is a second family. It’s a place that if you’re upset you can go and there will be people for you. People to welcome you with warm arms,” says Vleck.
Hall adds, “You can get so far in this class and so far as a person in this community, which is what this program is about. It’s about getting out in the community and being a great person.”
The JROTC at BHS is currently planning a service-learning project in Leech Lake. The bus will leave sometime in late April or early May.
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