JROTC banquet honors cadets for leadership, academics

Freshman+Fernando+Posada+receives+one+of+his+six+awards+from+Isis+Gutierrez.

Christa Cole

Freshman Fernando Posada receives one of his six awards from Isis Gutierrez.

Christa Cole, Photography Editor

The semester JROTC awards ceremony is a time to honor cadets as they are recognized for achieving goals and performing well throughout both the year and semester. The night began with the cadets singing their cadences, posting the colors, singing the national anthem, posting the colors once more and a slideshow made by Cadet Command Sergeant Major Danny Balderramos. The slideshow featured pictures of fundraisers, training events, drill competitions, parties, parades and leadership camps from throughout the year. Over 50 awards were then presented to cadets by veterans as well as Russell  Wilder and Roy McCutcheon.

Awards are given for things like playing a varsity sport, no unexcused absences and maintaining 97% or above on uniform inspections as well as being the best squad, being one of the three best battalions or being a cadet who displays high leadership. Certain people who receive many awards were given unique shadowboxes to display what they have earned.

“[The most awarded achievement would] probably be the athletic achievement for those who achieve 50% or better on the cadet challenge. That’s the one who had the most names, that one and best company, only because everyone has to take that, but in order to get that you have to score in the fiftieth percentile based on the event for your age. The other one would be the best in company because that’s a whole block of kids we got some blocks with 50 kids and that could be 30 to 50 kids,” McCutcheon said.

The highest honor award is seen to be Superior Cadet but Distinguished Cadet is supposedly just as high.

“They’re tied, I would say. Superior is one per [Leadership, Education and Training] level and there’s only one distinguished cadet. Distinguished cadet is for academic excellence,” Wilder said.

Those who received the Superior Cadet Award included Jasmine Romero, Danny Balderramos, Edgar Reyes, Hunter Manzano, Abby Cayetano, Soma Barzanji, Dylan Grogg and Alex Mastrapa. To be awarded this honor, these cadets had to be in the top ten percent of their JROTC class as well as in the top 50 percent for academic standing. There is a 300 point value associated with this award all based on a combination of leadership, academics, demonstrated qualities and officer potential.

The Distinguished Cadet Award for Academic Excellence was awarded to Balderramos as well as Superior Cadet for [Leadership, Education and Training Level] 2 and many other awards. For this, Balderramos had to achieve the highest degree of excellence in scholastics.

“[Balderramos] couldn’t speak English. She had an interpreter because she couldn’t talk to us and now she’s the command sergeant major and she has climbed the mountain with every obstacle in her way. [From] not knowing the language, not knowing how to communicate, it’s incredible what she’s done and attained,” Wilder said. “If there’s a point just being a teacher is worth it and you need to point to one thing, you can point to Danny. She is probably the most incredible young lady I’ve ever met.”

It means a lot for Balderramos to receive praise like this because there is no other place for her to receive it otherwise.

“It’s like really great [hearing about such praise] because I don’t have those people who tell me ‘I’m proud of you. Come on, you can do this,’ when I say ‘I cannot anymore, I can’t do this.’ I’m beating myself every single day. I tell myself, ‘I can, I can do this because they say you can do this.’ I came here as a newcomer and I came to JROTC and I [could] communicate with them but not [in] English because I don’t talk with my tongue, I talk with my heart,” Balderramos said.

All of the awards that Balderramos received include the Competition Color Guard medal, the Retired Enlisted Association award,the Superior Cadet Award for [Leadership, Education and Training Level] 2, The Distinguished Cadet for Scholastic Excellence Award, the Officer of the Semester Award, the Academic Achievement Award, the Personal Appearance award, the Drill Team award, the Fitness Award, the Blue Streak ribbon, the Service Learning Award, the Excellence in Staff award and the second place medal for the 5k as well as being promoted to Cadet Command Sergeant Major.

“First of all, [to be promoted, I had to] speak a lot of English, be nice with others, work really hard and never give up. People can see me not just like ‘oh she can do everything,’ they look at me as a friend. They talk about what happened in their lives and they have that confidence to talk to me about everything so I think that meant I could get my rank because people trust me with everything,” Balderramos said.

If there’s a point just being a teacher is worth it and you need to point to one thing, you can point to Danny. She is probably the most incredible young lady I’ve ever met.

— Wilder

The most valued award of the night, though, is the orange honor guard chord. It is the highlight of the evening for cadets receiving them due to all of the hoops they have to jump through to become a member.

Those who received the orange honor cord include Brenda Ayala, Jasmine Franco and Kelly Ortega. To become a member of the honor guard, a cadet must have a 2.5 GPA or higher, maintain a “C’ or higher in other classes, perform and score 95% or above on at least five color guards, score 100% on an honor guard exam, score 100% on an armed practical exam, maintain a 97% JROTC, score and maintain 35% or above on all events on the Cadet Challenge, participate in all JROTC activities, wear the uniform as required with an average of 97% or above, and display sound leadership qualities along with many other things that involve behaving properly and leading certain activities. As an honor guard member they will take on more responsibilities and be held to a higher standard.

After the cadets receive the chord, they still must maintain the levels of achievements and keep up with their responsibilities. Otherwise, McCutcheon will reclaim them.

“But then you gotta maintain it. In order in to maintain, there’s certain things you have to do. If you start acting up, I can take it away from you and it’s so hard to earn, you don’t wanna lose it,” Colonel McCutcheon said. “Depending on what you do, you may never get it back, no matter what you do [in attempt to reattain the cord].”

Some cadets do really well in the beginning but begin to lose their motivation to work hard after being in the program for some time.

“A lot of kids impress you when they first come and they’re just little freshman; they rise to the occasion. When you’re new, you try harder and when you come back, you change, the people in the program change, so it doesn’t meet your expectations. You don’t know how many times [some cadets have] told me ‘I’m quitting, I’m not doing this,’ and then they change their minds, and then we have those who we think are going to be great, they’re starting to excel then they punch out,” Colonel McCutcheon said.

With around 100 new freshman recruited to join the program next year, Wilder isn’t about to chase after those who leave.

“They get distracted by either boys or sports, outside influences, family, disenchantment or, their words, ‘not feeling it anymore.’ If you don’t feel it go feel it somewhere else,” Sergeant Major Wilder said.

He sees a special quality in those with Latino heritage, though, that they especially excel in JROTC.

“The latinos, the ownership they take of the program and the way they push each other to be successful is incredible. I worked in Bassett High School. It was a kind of country school in the middle of nowhere and it was predominately caucasian, but nobody there bought in [to the program] like the latino kids do [at HHS],” Wilder said. “It makes you love this job, you can’t wait to get to work because of that. Man, does it change you. Me, as a person, the way you look at it through their eyes…to get here and to hear their struggles, where they came from, what they’ve been through and where they are now humbles me everyday.”

The cadets work together so efficiently that they run the class themselves and keep each other in line.

“They police themselves. That’s what’s fun about this job: kids buy into the program and they control and operate the program, then we just supervise and they run it. They hold each other to the standard and try to get them to do the right things themselves,” Wilder said.