Current Newsletter
April 2008

How the time has flown by. It seems like just yesterday that our unit was deep into the drill meet competitions, and looking forward to finals and Christmas. Now it’s the end of April, we only have 4 weeks of school left, and looking forward to more finals and summer. Our unit has been very busy since the last newsletter. Here are some of the highlights.

Senior Night was held at Lassiter, Pope, and Kell High Schools in November. All seniors were presented with a navy blue blanket embroidered with Senior Class 2008, the 4 schools, and Distinguished Unit with Honors. A nice memento for their time spent with our unit.

On November 9th, 15 of our Cadets attended the Coca-Cola Veterans Day ceremony in Atlanta. The cadets were in service dress, and were very respectful as they escorted our veterans to their seats.

Orientation Trip – Jacksonville Naval Base, Florida
The first orientation trip on 14 – 17 November was a very successful. 31 students went on the trip, along with 2 chaperones, Captain Wilkerson and 1st. Sgt. Cox. however a good time was had by all. Special thanks to Terri Schaff and George Forbes for giving up their time to go on the trip. Thanks Captain and 1st. Sgt. for making the trip possible.

Drill Meet – Orange Park, Florida
Two weeks later, our Cadets were back down to the Jacksonville Area for the Orange Park Drill Meet. 33 cadets attended the meet on 1 December, and the weather was perfect. Our cadets competed exceptionally well in all activities, and placed 4th in Armed Exhibition. Special thanks to Terri Schaff, George Forbes, and Stuart Glass for chaperoning, and to Captain Wilkerson and 1St. Sgt. Cox for their dedication to the cadets.

The Holiday Party was held 7 December at the Mountain View Community Center. There was an excellent turnout, lots of good food and plenty of dancing. A special thank you to the group of parents who gave up their Friday night to chaperone our cadets.

AMI was held 14 February. The cadets worked extremely hard to prepare for this very important inspection, and it paid off! All the cadets looked very sharp, and the combined Armed / Unarmed Exhibition routine was impressive. 15 Cadets received a Bravo Zulu for personal inspection. Congratulations to Cadets Glass, Johnston, Larrea (J), Milum, Daniele, Wellmaker, DeJager (K), Pavlak, Galione, Bennett, Lindsey, Johnson, Young, Franklin, & Parker. The Best Overall Platoon award was given to Bravo Platoon commanded by Cadet Pavlak. The pass and review was followed by a luncheon in the Trojan room hosted by the CPO. Thank you to the board members who helped set up, serve and clean up. Overall, the day was a great success.

Our final fundraiser of the year was the Coke/Water sales. Cadets worked hard and ended up selling 395 cases of Coke products. A profit of more than $1600 went straight to the cadet accounts. Well done.

The Military Ball was held 29 March at Hollycrest Hall. We had 80 cadets and guests attend, and it appeared that everyone had a wonderful time. Color Guard was preformed by Cadets Guris, Dobbins, Young and Horstman. Honor Guard was performed by Cadets Pelletier, Stapleton, Golden, Wellmaker, Pruett, Larrea (L), Salazar, and DeJager (J) . 12 seniors were recognized, and Cadet Ballow spoke about the POW/MIA table. The official cutting of the cake was done by Cadet Johnston, and served to Captain Wilkerson, Cadet Schaff and Cadet Woltering. Complete Music provided an array of music for the cadets to dance to, 1st Sgt. was serenaded to by most of the attendees, and Cadet Guris gave a long and heartfelt farewell speech to Cadet Schaff. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Pavlak, and Mrs. Schaff for chaperoning, and a special thank you to Claire Pelletier for all your hard work.

Once again, 1st Sgt. Cox took a group of cadets to Parris Island for the spring orientation trip on 23 – 26 April. As in prior years, the cadets had a great time at the mini-boot camp getting a taste of life in the Marine Corps. The cadets took on the confidence course, the sand pit, the repel tower and the fun park! They ate in the mess hall in silence, slept in the barracks without wrinkling the bedding and all had a great time. Thank you to Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Coffey and Ms. Lindsey for chaperoning, and to 1st Sgt. for making another exciting trip possible.

Awards night will be 2 May at Lassiter High School in the cafeteria. All those who paid their CPO dues throughout the year get one ticket free. There is a list of those family members posted in the NJROTC room. Everyone is strongly encouraged to come and enjoy a great meal and a wrap-up to a terrific year.

Please send questions, comments and news to Trish Young at tjayoung@bellsouth.net.

There are lots of cool items for Spirit Wear. Spirit Wear questions and orders can be placed with Julee Rimes at juleerimes@comcast.net

Please check out our new web site for photos, unit information, and links to additional information...and always check the ANNOUNCEMENTS page!