Activities

WHAT NAVY JUNIOR ROTC IS AND ISN’T

First and foremost, by congressional mandate, NJROTC is a Citizenship Development Program.  NJROTC is not a military recruiting program.  Although instructors enjoyed a military career, they are not recruiters.  No incentives exist for units or instructors whose cadets enlist, or accept ROTC scholarships or Service Academy appointments.  In fact, only about 23% of Americans can get into the military for various reasons.

Even so, if a cadet does want to go into the military, going through NJROTC will allow them to jumpstart their careers with additional pay and rank.  Also, in addition to the scholarships and nominations that anyone can seek, there are scholarships that only NJROTC cadets can earn, including ten at Auburn University and ten at Tuskegee University, among others.

The RHS unit receives cadets from Elberta HS, includes nearly 150 cadets in total, and has three retired military instructors who are certified schoolteachers.  RHS NJROTC is one of over 600 NJROTC units throughout the nation.

One of the unique things about NJROTC is that cadets get an opportunity to not only learn about leadership techniques and methods, but they actually practice them daily.

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Monday – Drill or activities

Tuesday – Lecture

Wednesday – Uniform inspection

Thursday – Lecture

Friday – Physical training

COST TO PARTICIPATE

The cost to participate is $20 per year.  Uniforms and other required items are provided free of charge.  Cadets are rarely charged for field trips, including those out-of-state or overnight, although there is a charge for the Military Ball and summer leadership camps.

STATE REQUIREMENTS TO GRADUATE

NJROTC can be used to concurrently satisfy various state requirements including “Career Prep,” Physical Education, and “Course Completers” levied by the state of Alabama for all graduates.  Doing this frees up class periods for other desired areas of interest.

BALDWIN PREPARATORY ACADEMY

BPA is set to start classes in August 2024.  According to https://baldwinprep.com/faq/, “Your participation in sports and extracurricular activities is vital to your high school experience.  Students will be allowed to participate in many of the after-school activities their member school has to offer, and we supply you with plenty of time at the end of the day to return to your home school for those events.”

While there is room for interpretation, it appears that students will be able to attend BPA and come back at the end of the day for NJROTC.

UNIT ACHIEVEMENT

Each year NJROTC designates the top 30% of its units as “Distinguished Units.”  Within those 17 Area 8 units, the top ten carry the additional acknowledgement of “With Academic Honors.”  RHS continues to be named a Distinguished Unit with Academic Honors year after year.

CADET ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Annually, some of the very highest achieving students at RHS are enrolled in NJROTC including three of the past five graduating valedictorians.  Two years ago, five of the top ten graduating students were cadets.  The unit always has a couple of the top ten graduates in the mix.

CADET ACCOLADES

The highest award a cadet can earn is the Legion of Valor Bronze Cross for Achievement Awards.  Each year NJROTC presents two for each of its 11 areas including Area 8 which includes 60 schools from five states.  Over the past six years, 12 such awards have been presented.  RHS cadets have earned six of the 12 which is an unprecedented number.  Additionally, one Joseph C. Gilliam Award is presented annually as the most prestigious academic award within the NJROTC.  This year a RHS cadet won the award for the first time in school history.

TEAM ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Academic.  Competitions include Brain Brawl, where teams compete in a Scholars Bowl-type format, JROTC Leadership and Academic Bowl (JLAB) where teams compete in an online competition, and written exams such as the NJROTC National Academic Exam.

Air Rifle.  Either an individual marksman or the whole team has been to the NJROTC National Championship for each of the past five years.  Last year the team traveled to Utah and finished ranked ninth nationally.  The Precision Class team once again won the Area Championship, is currently ranked fifth nationally within NJROTC, and will be traveling to Ohio in March to compete against 16 other teams to determine who is the best among JROTC’s 3,500 units.  In April, one of our shooters will be traveling to Colorado to participate in the USA Shooting Junior Olympics.  The team has just won the Alabama State Championship and over the past five years, the team has never finished worse than third in the state.  The unit also hosts the second-largest competition within Area 8.

Color Guard.  While the unit maintains a CG team, the presentation of the National Colors is conducted by numerous cadets at various venues throughout the year including Talladega’s YellaWood 500 and the Daytona 500 for the past three straight years.

CyberPatriot.  CP is a computer network defense competition designed to help direct students toward careers in cybersecurity or other STEM disciplines.  The unit’s team has been very successful, including multiple top three Alabama finishes.

Drill.  Competition elements include Color Guard, Unarmed Basic, Armed Basic, Armed Exhibition, Unarmed Exhibition, Physical Fitness, and Academic.  The Drill team was re-established two years ago and finished eighth at the Area 8 Championship earlier this month.

Orienteering.  The team uses compasses and a map to run through the woods, finding control points.  It is basically a cross-country scavenger hunt.  The team has finished no lower than eighth at Area 8 Championships and has gone on to compete twice in California and annually in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee.  The RHS unit hosts the largest Orienteering meet on the Gulf Coast and also co-hosts the Area 8 Championship.

Physical Fitness.  The PF team competes at times as a stand-alone team and at other times as part of the Drill team.  The team is routinely highly rated and often brings home trophies and medals.

SeaPerch.  SP is an innovative underwater robotics program that equips students, educators, and parents with the resources they need to build an underwater remotely operated vehicle.  The team was established two years ago and immediately won the Alabama State Championship.  During the past two years, the team has qualified and competed at the International Championship in Maryland, where they took home one of the five at-large awards.  The unit boasts the only SP competition hosted by an Area 8 team.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

One tenet of NJROTC’s citizenship development is community service.  Each year the unit is involved in multiple community projects such as the Lighthouse Family Violence Shelter, the Toys for Tots program, various veterans programs, retirement center visits, a local library beautification project, multiple Trunk or Treat events, Robertsdale Rotary Club Rodeo, various elementary school field days, the Jubilee Renaissance Faire, Special Olympics, parades, and any other opportunity that presents itself.

One of the challenges for RHS NJROTC is the sheer size of its area of responsibility, which includes Lillian, Perdido Beach, Elberta, Seminole, Rosinton, Loxley, Silverhill, Robertsdale, and Summerdale.

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Each year, the unit hosts a Military Ball which is similar to a Prom except that it focuses on service to the country and to the unit instead of highlighting individual students.  In some years, a spring dance is also offered.

Field trips are a big part of what NJROTC does.  Trips typically are to businesses, colleges, and retirement homes.

SUMMER LEADERSHIP CAMPS

In the summers, cadets are offered the opportunity to attend Leadership and STEM camps in places like Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi, and at universities.  Activities include whitewater rafting, sailing, skiing, rappelling, orienteering, marksmanship, STEM projects, canoeing, rock wall climbing, ziplining, High Confidence Courses, Low Confidence Courses, drill, teambuilding, water survival, and so forth.

To learn more about the NJROTC Company click there. 

The Navy JROTC Color Guard presents the National Flag and military colors throughout the county, in order to render appropriate military honors.

If you are interested in scheduling a performance by the NJROTC Color Guard, please contact LCDR Frank Starr (U.S. Navy Retired) at wstarr@bcbe.org, cell (678) 519-8114 or First Sergeant Charles G. Aguilar (U.S. Marine Corps Retired) at caguilar@bcbe.org, cell (949) 272-6883.

The Color Guard Commander is one of the most visible cadets in the unit. By virtue of this billet, the Color Guard Commander serves as an example in appearance, performance, and leadership for all cadets to emulate.

Elberta Company Color Guard Commander - Cadet Kinsey Maxwell