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ROTC comes to Loudoun County High
Inside the red brick annex at Loudoun County High School, students sit up straight in pressed white shirts, paying close attention to the presentation in front of them.
Honor, courage and commitment. These three words flash across the overhead screen.
They are the three core values of the Navy, and they are some of the most important lessons that these high school students will learn in this class – Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps.
“We use military values, but the real focus is precision, order, self-discipline, leadership and responsibility for your own actions,” said the lead instructor for the program, senior Naval Science instructor Jeremy Gillespie. “They are the kind of things parents try to teach their kids, but hearing it from me in your uniform, it kind of clicks.”
This year, for the first time in Loudoun County Public Schools history, the ROTC class is being offered to high schoolers at Loudoun County High School.
It's drawn 122 cadets – male and female – who want to add this course to their high school curriculum and learn discipline, leadership and citizenship skills. Several students even transferred from other Loudoun high schools to enroll.
Gillespie said about 60 percent of the course is textbook work – the students this year are all enrolled in Naval Science 1 – and about 40 percent is hands-on leadership training.
The students must complete physical fitness drills, go through strict uniform inspections, perform community service and take turns acting as leaders within their squads.
“We try to find ways to give them a reason to care about something and invest in something, and we hope that will carry over into the rest of their lives,” Gillespie said. “When they go into the business or corporate world, the things they learn about here will set them up for success wherever they go.”
The NJROTC program at Loudoun County High School is also establishing a drill team, color guard and marksmanship team.
NJROTC came to County after a long wait, said principal Bill Oblas, who sent in an application to be considered as an ROTC school four years ago.
“It's given us a great atmosphere for preparing student leaders, leaders in the classroom and in the community,” he said. “The teachers are saying it's already made a dramatic impact.”
The program at Loudoun County can serve about 200 students, freshmen through seniors, and it's a based around a four-year curriculum, so there is room for growth, Oblas said.
In the weeks since school began, the cadets have shown signs of change, said Naval Science instructor Andrew Jones, who teaches the course along with Gillespie.
“I've seen a change in their overall conduct,” he said. “I was in the cafeteria ... and we had a cadet in there who interrupted a couple of kids who were throwing food. We had a cadet take the initiative to stop it.”
Gillespie described a similar situation at a recent football game at the school, where a cadet approached a group of other students and asked them not to use inappropriate language around young children who were present.
The students enrolled in the class have various reasons for signing up.
“Some are here because it looks good on college resumes, some want to go into the military and some just thought it would be a good class to take,” said Chris Stowell, 16, a junior in the class who plans to go into the Air Force after graduation.
Alyssa Devenney, 16, a junior, is one of the few girls enrolled in NJROTC.
“There are only about 10 other girls,” she said. “It's very stereotyped as being military and all about being headstrong, but it's not like that at all. It's a good leadership class.”
Contact the reporter at ecoe@timespapers.com
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