At the beginning of the school year, the Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC) program had about 47 cadets, including returning members and new freshmen, and now they have 91 members, senior naval science instructor Patrick McCormick said.
The two new instructors partly caused this rise in participation, McCormick said.
“If you had ever seen this (NJROTC) classroom before, it looks completely different than how it did last year,” McCormick said. “Not only are we new here, but we are coming with a new approach.”
NJROTC will have their annual inspection in December, and they need to have at least 100 cadets, Naval Science Instructor James Whitney said. Over the last couple of years, they’ve averaged 70 to 80 cadets, he added.
“Our trajectory is moving towards that 100,” Whitney said. “The school administration, the school board, the community, have been very supportive because they probably could have shut down (the program) two years ago. But, one hundred percent, I think if the community still wants the program, I don’t think it’s going to be shut down.”
The unit in the Area 22 jurisdiction that has the most improvement since last year will win an award, Senior Commanding Officer Akshat Paliwal said. MHS’ unit has the opportunity to win this award, as long as they keep the upward momentum they have right now, he added.
“The area manager is going to come inspect our program on December 9, and that’ll be one of our biggest opportunities to prove that we are the most improved unit,” Paliwal said.
Last year, Lieutenant Jackson had run the program herself, which was difficult due to the work the program entails, Whitney said.
“It’s a lot of after school hours, project management, community service projects,” Whitney said. “So I think for one person, this is a lot of work, and to still teach a curriculum.”
Many people left because they’d average C’s or D’s in this class, Sophomore Recruitment Officer Gaia Tanzarella said.
“It should be an easy elective, but it proved not to be,” she said. “I think that’s a big reason why people left. Now, the lowest score is a B+, and that’s only one person. 50 something people now have an A.”
The program doesn’t really do punishments like pushups anymore, Paliwal said.
“We’re trying to create a new image of ROTC, where it’s more like, this is where you get to come if you want to learn about leadership, if you want to become a better person, and you want to get ahead before going to college,” he said.
The cadets have been going to a lot of recruiting events, such as back to school night, Paliwal said.
“We participated in the last rally, which we’ve never done before,” Paliwal said. “And then we’ve also been going to middle schools a lot.”
The NJROTC program spent a great amount of time recruiting at Thomas Russell Middle School and Rancho Milpitas Middle School, McCormick said.
“We’re starting a brand new unit from Rancho Milpitas called Foxtrot,” McCormick said. “It’s the first time in the history of this school that Rancho Middle School will get to participate in this program. They’ve asked for years, and for whatever reason, it just never happened. So that was one of our goals this year.”
Last year, NJROTC held the same 8th grade program, but it wasn’t as good, Tanzarella said. There were only a few eighth graders because they were scared off, she added.
“For the eighth graders, we’re including games because before it was just a sad, bleak classroom,” Tanzarella said. “Now, after every lesson, I try to include a game or some kind of fun team bonding activity.”
35 eighth graders come across after school, and the majority are girls, Whitney said. The program is usually male dominant, but they see those numbers changing, he added.
“I think it’s good,” Whitney said. “I think they came in the test the program and they told their friends.”
Cadets have informed him that last year, recruiting was more like begging people to be a part of the team, McCormick said. They’re raising their standards by only recruiting people that want to be in the program, he added.
“I think the biggest difference (between this year and last year) is just being more visible to the students and being more inviting,” McCormick said. “When redesigning this room, our windows are open, our doors are open. We want to welcome people here.”
