SAN BENITO — From gaining leadership skills and participating in an array of camps and competitions to helping the community through acts of service, the cadets of this unit continue making outstanding achievements.
San Benito CISD’s Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) received the Unit Achievement Award for the 2020-2021 school year.
The award was given based on a yearlong assessment spanning from April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021.
The unit was graded in more than 40 areas. They placed first out of 14 schools for the award out of 62 eligible units within Texas.
NJROTC Chief Timothy Wilson said the unit, its instructors and cadet leadership feel very proud to earn this award.
“It was a very difficult school year for everyone, not just here in the Valley, but across the country,” Wilson said. “For our students to still have that drive and initiative to work hard even though we had a lot of restrictions and to have the unit still earn an award and be recognized by the NJROTC program is very humbling.”
The unit is gearing up to host its NJROTC Summer Camp in late July for incoming freshmen and upperclassmen.
Whether students are interested in trying something new and gaining fun new memories with a team or want to gain tools that will help them pursue a military career, this upcoming summer camp may be just what they’re looking for.
The camp will be held at the San Benito High School NJROTC portables from July 26 to July 30 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Students do not have to be enrolled in the NJROTC program to attend the summer camp.
Wilson said students who are new to the program or want to learn more about it will be told about the benefits they can gain from participating in NJROTC.
“It’s an opportunity for those students to actually come out and see what the unit can offer them not just in the classroom setting, but also with our nine different teams that we have,” Wilson said.
The program has different teams cadets can compete in, such as armed and unarmed drill teams, a robotics team, an orienteering team, a color guard team, a physical fitness team, an academic team and a marksmanship team.
“We’re hoping that this will help broaden opportunities for students in our school district to accomplish more things not only representing our community, but also helping to set themselves up for success when it comes to either college or scholarship applications, but also helping them with something even as simple as maybe their job resume because it shows dedication to a program,” Wilson said.
Depending on the weather, there will be time spent outside doing physical fitness.
Wilson said participants are asked to wear comfortable clothing, bring some water with them and be ready to learn.
For more information about the summer camp, email Wilson at [email protected].
