One hundred and forty three Navy JROTC students from throughout New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, recently graduated on July 11, in ceremonies on Nimitz Field, Naval Station (NAVSTA) Newport, and earned their silver aiguillette leadership shoulder cords.
The cadets, divided into gold, black, blue and green platoons, honed their cadet leadership skills and learned about seamanship during the 19th annual NJROTC Area Four Leadership Academy and Sail Training (LA/ST) camp that started July 29. Of those 143 cadets, four came from Riverhead High School. Todd Brewer, Nicholas Waldron, Tyler Behr and Dakota Ventresca spent two weeka this summer studying leadership curriculum consisting of 22, 45-minute interactive classes for each platoon.
A STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) component of 6 hours for each platoon consisted of the Cadets working on design and build projects. Sail training conducted with nine Rhodes 19 sail training craft from the NAVSTA Marina facility concluded with two regattas on Narragansett Bay that allow the Cadets to compete with each other.
“This is significant because so few of the Cadets have ever set sail in a sail boat of any kind,” said retired Navy Capt. Daniel Brennock, LA/ST OIC, and senior naval science instructor (NSI) at Quabbin Regional High School, Barre, Massachusetts. They will return to their high schools in the fall to assume leadership positions in their NJROTC units.”
“We’ve become more diverse,” Brennock said. The LA/ST demographics here included 79 Caucasians, 47 Hispanics, and 17 African Americans. Sixteen Cadet aides, who are previous LA/ST graduates, were selected to serve as role models and instructional assistants. The cadet contingent consisted of 59 females and 100 males. Twenty-three NSI staff from throughout the Area 4 region served as academic instructors, sailing instructors and platoon leaders. Five parent volunteers served as platoon chaperones. Nearly all of the Cadets will be entering their junior and senior years. The selection process to attend LA/ST is considered highly competitive based on collected background information about high school grade point average, physical fitness, aptitude, and a demonstration of the many leadership traits stressed at each school’s NJROTC unit.
“This year’s class of Cadets consists of 119 students who made their school’s honor roll, 59 who are members of the National Honor Society, and 120 who play varsity sports,” Brennock said.
According to Brennock, high schools in the Area 4 region have NJROTC programs with class sizes ranging from 60 to 450 students. “We’re inspiring the cadets to take the lessons learned here and apply them to their units,” he said.
“I’ve learned different leadership styles and have learned how to be a better leader,” said Cadet Skyler Grathwohl, Southhold High School, Southold, New York
NAVSTA Newport hosts the annual NJROTC Area 4 LA/ST summer camp with classroom facility support and berthing space provided by Officer Training Command and the Naval Academy Preparatory School. Both are Navy officer accession programs.
Source: Press release issued by Riverhead Central School District, August 25.
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