From Molecular Genetics to Mythology and Folklore, West Ranch provides students with a multitude of electives to choose from in pursuit of their future careers and interests. Among these is a unique program, the Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, better known as JROTC. Unlike other electives, this course is taken with fellow high school students from Saugus, Academy of the Canyons and Valencia.
Cadets engage in physical training, flight time, team time and various academic activities every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at Valencia High School. During flight time, cadets are evaluated on basic skills such as marching, drilling and commands. Team time is an opportunity for cadets in Color Guard, Rifle, Sword and Raiders to train for upcoming competitions. “Raiders is a competition team and they focus on doing very rigorous training like with rope bridges [or] they carry weights while running long distances,” West Ranch junior cadet Ava Tecson described. Academic teams such as StellarXplorers, JLAB and CyberPatriots allow students to compete in rigorous scientific competitions against teams from other units.
Every Wednesday, cadets wear their uniforms to school to be inspected by JROTC superiors. Freshmen can only wear “service blues,” which are blue slacks with a collared button down. Sophomores may wear an “ABU,” or an Airman Battle Uniform, while juniors and seniors wear the “OCP” uniform (Operational Camouflage Pattern). Uniforms are checked for tidiness, alignment of title pins and the direction of the belt, which is through the right belt loops for girls and through the left for boys. If cadets fail to meet the standard, they receive a “gig,” which is a negative point given for misconduct. These points can build up into receiving a demerit, which prevents promotion to a higher rank. Newer members are allowed just four “gigs” before receiving a demerit, while higher ranks are allowed even fewer.
When it comes to leadership, JROTC uses a system of “ranks” similar to the Air Force. Students first joining the elective are considered cadet Airman Basic and can level up through promotional tests that evaluate cadets on air force knowledge found in the Cadet Guide. The more a student advances throughout the program, the more difficult the assessments become. Specifically for CA-782, the JROTC unit of SCV, the highest ranking title is Lieutenant Colonel, who leads and looks after the entire unit.
Tecson, now a First Lieutenant, has been in JROTC since her freshman year. She believes that her ability to lead and take initiative is what propelled her through the program. “I’m very outspoken,” she said. “I’ve always had that in me; passionate, fiery, it’s like my personality.”
Outside of school hours, cadets are expected to invest time outside of the program by volunteering at community events. Tecson’s favorite event is the Malibu Triathlon where athletes compete in running, swimming and biking competitions to help raise money for the LA hospital. Tecson elaborated, “That event was really memorable because you’d go out really early on a Saturday at 1 a.m. to Valencia High School [and] hop on a bus until you’d arrive at 5 [a.m.]. You’re literally shaking from how cold it is, but the experience of suffering with your peers is so memorable. I’ve made some of my closest friends of JROTC at Malibu.” Cadets are also frequent volunteers at football games, marathons and fundraisers.
To celebrate the hard work of the cadets, the annual Military Ball is held in November. This year, West Ranch sophomore Faith Lee was the NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer), which is one of three organizers of the event along with the OIC (Officer in Charge) and NCOIC (Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge). Freshman Cadet Airman Rachael An preferred the ball to homecoming because of her close friends from JROTC and the ball’s smaller close-knit community. With the Golden Valley High School unit attending as well, this year saw a larger turnout of 300 cadets. Leaders like Lee, were expected to schedule vendors, select the venue and manage the forms necessary for the ball. Lee describes running the event as “highly stressful” because the event’s success was highly dependent on the organizers’ teamwork, communication and leadership capabilities.
Lee has been in JROTC since the start of her high school career, and as a Master Sergeant and Flight Commander, her experience has shaped her as a leader. Lee shared, “In the beginning, it was really pressuresome because I knew I would have to do well to teach them thoroughly, but now that I’ve been doing it for a lot of months, it just feels welcoming because you see these cadets [from] the beginning. They’re shaky, they’re nervous. As progress goes, they become more confident with what they know and you just feel proud, you’re kind of like the mother hen in a way.”
Airmen Lee, Tecson and An find commonality in their journeys as cadets. Lee expressed, “You learn soft skills. You learn how to lead, you learn how to follow, you learn how to communicate, you learn how to take on challenges. These aren’t things you typically learn in your English classroom.”
