Benefits of JROTC

What do you think of when you hear the word JROTC? JROTC, short for Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, at Oregon City High School is a military-based program that teaches life skills, builds amazing friendships, and for some, may even feel like family. JROTC at the high school has so many classes that will get students ready for adulthood, such as teaching how to do taxes and basic respect. In JROTC, they teach you life skills as simple as time management and grooming standards. Yes, for the uniform, but also just basic upkeep. In this class, our instructor Sergeant Aguilar would say, “This class, you practically have to TRY to fail”, which is completely true in most cases, and most cadets in the program tend to agree. This program brings together people from all backgrounds, including those who are struggling, well-off, and everything in between.

Daily Activities

On different days, we have different things to do. Some days we have physical training (PT), in which we go to the hitting facility and, depending on the day, we have strength PT or cardio PT. Strength days, we focus on improving full-body strength and physical health. Cardio PT is focused on endurance, while still improving your overall health. Cadets participate in the mile, push-up test, sit-up test, and shuttle run about 3 times in a school year. One of the main reasons we consistently do PT is to improve each time. For this portion of the class, every 18 months you’re in the course, you earn a PE credit.
The days we don’t have PT or uniform inspection, we have academic days or drill days. On academic days, we have a notebook and a textbook, and we study our current chapter. Then, we take notes on our current chapter for the tests. At least a week before every test, Sergeant will go over the test in class and go in-depth about the questions. That way, everyone knows what to expect. If you miss an academic day and don’t have the notes, you will have time to make up the notes. You are allowed test retakes as many times as you need to. Also, you can have a conversation more about what you’re struggling with. On drill days, we go out to the tennis courts and practice our
basic drill movements and march around.

Mandatory Events

We have mandatory events, which are a big part of your grade. We have specific events that are serious, and some are more fun. All parades are mandatory, and we have a mandatory jogathon. One of the more enjoyable mandatory events is Cadet Ball. The nights start off with a formal dinner and guest speakers, then transitions into music and dancing, where you can socialize with other cadets, or it’s optional to leave. Many cadets will use this event as an opportunity to go out and celebrate with other cadets after the ball ends.

Teams

The JROTC program OCHS also has a variety of teams and activities. We have 8 teams you can join. One is color guard, which is four people: two with flags in the middle and the two rifles on the ends, who perform at the beginning of each assembly and parade. This school year, we are launching a new drone team. You will learn how to fly, operate, and compete with drones. All of these teams are led by other cadets while always being supervised by one of our instructors. You are not required to join any of these teams, though it is highly recommended.
These teams compete against other JROTC schools in the Pacific Northwest. We have other schools in our division, and for the past 3 years, our unarmed drill team has taken 1st place in every competition. The unarmed drill team has gone to Daytona Beach, Florida for the past 2 years to compete in a national, worldwide drill competition. This past year, we also got invited to join them in inter-service nationals with other branches like the Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. For these competitions, you need to be exclusively invited by the director. We are one of 4 schools East of the Mississippi to be invited to this competition.

Awards

We have many types of awards that a cadet can receive, one of them being ribbons for your uniform. These ribbons can signify many different accomplishments, some of them being from attending mandatory events like parades. We have a variety of ribbons, all the way from doing a parade to doing 20 volunteer hours. You also get them for competing in competitions. We can also receive medals. Medals, the majority of the time, are received if you’ve specifically placed in a competition. You may also receive one at a mandatory event, like the Award Ceremony.

Overall/Conclusion

Overall, the JROTC program at Oregon City High School is more than just a class to many cadets; it will become a family. This program gives students the opportunity to grow academically, physically, and mentally. The connections you build in this program are amazing, and we wish for everybody to feel the same in this class. We would love to welcome new cadets and make them feel the same friendships and care we have. In JROTC, we call our battalion a family, and we love to welcome new members.