Cadets excel and strengthen character

Parkview High School’s MCJROTC Cadets, collecting for the Toys for Tots program.

Battaion Formation

By Julie Achee

November is an important month for the students enrolled in Parkview High School’s MCJROTC program. Not only is November 10th the Marine Corp birthday, this month also marks the beginning of the “busy season” for the community service projects undertaken by the program. But what is MCJROTC?
Ninety-five years ago, the National Defense Act established the Reserve Officer Training program to prepare high school and college students for the Army. Today, the JROTC program focuses on a mission to provide a course of leadership education designed to develop informed citizens, strengthen character by the teaching of discipline, and develop an understanding of the responsibilities of citizenship. Participating in the JROTC program does not incur a military service obligation. Classroom instruction is combined with extracurricular activities.
The Parkview High School MCJROTC was established in September of 1995 and has earned the designation of “Naval Honors School” for the last three years. During the last two years, the Parkview High School MCJROTC program has more than doubled the number of students participating. Once enrolled in the program, the students are referred to as “Cadets”. The program is comprised of Cadets from Parkview and Brookwood High School with a current enrollment of over two hundred students. One of the primary reasons for this increase is that the Marine Instructors have done a great job of getting across the message that this is not a recruitment program for the U.S. Armed Services. This program is first and foremost about leadership and community service. The first thing Major Ron Tootle, USMC (Ret.) and Gunnery Sergeant David Erwin, USMC (Ret.) will tell parents and students considering the program is that their goal is for these students to go to college. To that end, they provide support and assistance locating scholarships and applying to colleges.
It is a requirement that the Cadets have a minimum number of community service hours each year. The Cadets generally exceed the minimum requirement with each Cadet in the program averaging over 40 hours per school year in community service. The Cadets are active across the Atlanta Metro area. Their activities range from providing logistical support for Lilburn Daze, Music on Main, and the Lilburn Christmas Parade to Color Guard duties for local professional sports teams. There are two events every November that the Cadets most look forward to: Feeding the Vets on Veteran’s Day and the Toys for Tots campaign. Every year the Cadets take food to the VA Hospital in Atlanta spending time getting to know the veterans. Later this month the Cadets will kick off the Toys for Tots drive. Last year Parkview MCJROTC collected close to $65,000 in toys and donations for the campaign.
In addition to the core curriculum, the Cadets have the opportunity to participate on the drill team, rifle team, or orienteering team. The drill team has won the State title the last two years and the orienteering team has multiple regional, state and national awards.
Recent studies have shown that students participating in the JROTC program have higher graduation rates, higher attendance rates, and higher average GPA’s than the general student population. With a focus on leadership, community service and education, the Cadets in the MCJROTC program have the opportunity to build their resumes for college and employment recruiters. Many Parkview and Brookwood Cadets have gone on to receive ROTC scholarships, academic scholarships, sports scholarships as well as appointments to the Academies (Naval, Coast Guard, Air Force, West Point).
To learn more about Parkview High School MCJROTC and how best to support the community service projects of the program, please visit the website at http://parkviewmcjrotc.com or on Facebook.