Overview

Cadet Ball is a mandatory event for the JROTC class. It is a significant part of your grade, comparable to a test in another class. It is always hosted in the winter, around early February, but due to the semesters, it had to be moved up this year.

There are two parts to the grade: 2 out of 4 points are based on your permission slip, which you need to turn in, and the other 2 points are based on your actual attendance and participation in the event.

This event costs between 8 and 10 thousand dollars, including catering, the Abernathy Center, all of the decorations, and anything else we might need. To get all the money we need, most of it we get from the jogathon, another mandatory event. For that event, we get donations from friends and family. There is no minimum or maximum amount you need to fundraise, but the fundraising covers your ticket, which could otherwise be 15 dollars.

This event is a tradition in the JROTC program; it has happened every year for decades. It teaches you formalities, how a real formal dinner is performed, and is overall just a great experience for all of the cadets.

Beginning

There are 6 different stages to the event; Photos, receiving line, formal portion, dinner, guest speaker speech, and the dancing portion. The first two stages are the photos and the receiving line. In the receiving line, you will introduce yourself and your guest if you brought one, and you will do this to every person in the receiving line until you are finished. Photos are usually the first thing done when you get there; they call up everybody on the teams, and each team takes a photo together, some serious and some funny. The photo portion also stays up throughout the night, so if you’d like to go get photos with your guest or date, you can do that as well.

After, you go back to the line and wait for the receiving line to start. The receiving line is where the instructors, Major Thomas and Sergeant Aguilar, stand with their spouses, the guest speaker and their date, and the Battalion Command Sergeant Major with their date/guest.

After the receiving line, you find your table, everybody has an assigned seat, then stand and wait for the rest of your table to arrive. If you’re a male, once everybody arrives at your table, if there are females, you are asked to pull out their chair and push it in for them. Once everybody sits down, the Executive Officer, this year it was Lilly Street, will say a small speech introducing everybody at the head table, which is all the people in the receiving line; after introducing them, they thank the 8 guest cadets from other schools, like Prairie, and Bataillon.

Everybody is then asked to stand for the posting of the colors and the playing of the national anthem, everybody then stands and follows the flag with their body at the position of attention, if you are a guest or somebody wearing a dress, you do not have to stand at the position of attention but it is still asked that you stand and face the flag.

After the color guard exits, you will then be asked to take a seat. The command sergeant major will then be called up to the stand to make a speech about the memorial table. A small table sits beside the head table, small with a white tablecloth, a singular rose, salt upon the bread plate, and an inverted flute glass. They all symbolize different things, but together, they represent the service members who could not join us tonight, who lost their lives in war. Followed by this, there will be a moment of silence, then tables will be called to go get food, starting with the head table, then tables 1-16.

Guest Speaker

45 minutes after the tables start getting called out to go get their food, the guest speaker will introduce themselves and say a little something about themselves. This year’s guest speaker was Bernie Eikmeier, Command Sergeant Major Jacob Eikmeier’s grandfather.

There are certain requirements to become the guest speaker: you have to have prior military service, you need to have accomplished something great, and you have to be in a good place in life. The guest speaker gets chosen by the battalion commander; this year, it was Grant Gatsby.

There is no script of what the guest speaker needs to say, but there are certain prompts. Bernie started off his speech with what prompted him to join the military. He then goes on to talk about the time he spent in the military, and he talks about funny stories, favorite memories, and so much more.

This event is not entirely serious, yes, there are formal portions, but there are jokes and fun throughout, even the guest speaker jokes, Bernie joked, saying “…You know what they did first? They cut all my hair off!”

When he joined, it was during the draft for the Vietnam War. He didn’t want to join the Army, so he chose the Navy. The only problem was that he was a farm kid; he didn’t know a lot about the water, and he was 2,000 miles away from the ocean.

He joined the Navy with the hopes of not going to Vietnam, but he ended up having to go anyway. Alongside Vietnam, he went to many other interesting places, Eikmeier says, “I went to Hong Kong six times. It was such a wonderful city…. I’ve been to Kaifung, and Taiwan…. I’ve been to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Bangkok, Thailand, Subic Bay, and the Philippines. Subik Bay was a really special place. That was our West deployment home…. Had the opportunity to go to Australia. Australia and New Zealand, places you kind of dream about getting to, but don’t think you ever really will.” He then goes on to talk about so many of his favorite memories in some of those places.

For the rest of his speech, he talks about amazing memories he made throughout his years in the Navy, and how he started his company called Eikmeier Consulting. Then we end off his speech with something inspirational, “Complete an assignment, pass a test. There are small things, but they’re small steps. Something small, but something. The rest of the day, you will be looking for other things that you can actually put your finger on and say, ‘I did that.’ If you want to accomplish big things, I know you all do. Start by doing small things and doing them well. Small things add up. Small steps lead to bigger things. Bigger things lead to bigger responsibilities. Who knows? You may even change the world. Thanks for your time.”

After this, our guest speaker, Bernie Eikmeier, was presented with a carved pocket knife set and a battalion challenge coin. On the coin, it has pioneer Pete, and has the 7 core values: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage.

Photos/Ending

After dinner, the photos are usually still there for a while, about an hour. If you don’t want to take photos, then this is the dancing portion. We have a DJ, and they usually take song requests, and they will play most songs you ask for unless they’re obviously inappropriate, because this is still a school event. You do not have to stay for the dancing portion; it is only mandatory that you stay for the formal portion of the night, but after that, there are about 2 hours of dancing/relaxation if you’d like to stay.

Quotes About The Event By Cadets

“Cadet ball… once you get past the formalities… is like being in the hoco mosh pit constantly… but 10 times better.” -Cadet Sergeant Shaymus Osborne.

“It feels like a big family reunion.” -Cadet Sergeant Kailyn Lawrence.

“Cadet Ball was so Gutzin it.” -Cadet 2nd Lieutenant Mallory Columbus.

“The happiest moments often are a prelude to sadness.” -Cadet Sergeant Izhar Gomez.