“I grew up in a family of educators and I know how much my folks appreciated for parents to be involved, it is a team effort to get these students where they need to be when they need to be there,” said JROTC instructor Major Gregory Crites during Thursday evening’s Guidon Ceremony, which was held in the Poplar Bluff High School auxiliary gym.
Each unit was presented their Guidon during the event while fully dressed in fatigues and standing in formation. The cadets from six companies of the battalion received their Guidons according to Crites, “the 154 cadets have worked diligently to bring themselves and their units to this point.”
The Guidon Ceremony is representative of the unit and its commanding officer the guidon presented to the units is a small flag.
“It has taken a lot of preparation, teamwork, sweat and for some, even tears,” said Crites.
The Guidon is a flag that is used as a military unit marker.
During the ceremony, Crites took the opportunity to recognize a former student who was in attendance. Lukas Miller, a graduate of Poplar Bluff High School, said he attended the ceremony to show support for his fellow soldiers before his own upcoming departure. Miller, who is now a United States Marine, said he is preparing to leave for his duty station soon in Japan.
“We use a negative grading system. Every one of these cadets had a 100% when they started school, so when you start seeing zeros, it means they are getting stuff done,” said Crites who went on to elaborate on how the negative grading system works. “They have the responsibility to maintain that grade.”
Cadet Quentin Hon of the Delta Company said, “I’ve made a lot of new friends with the same ideas and interests from joining JROTC. It’s different than what I expected, better actually. It’s taught me you can accomplish everything and anything when you take one step at a time.”
All studies show that students that are engaged and involved in extra-curricular activities do better academically, are more socially adjusted and have fewer discipline problems, said Crites
“I don’t pretend that these kids are angels, but I’ll stack them up against any group,” he said.