A Letter from the SAI

Dear Parents and future CHS Freshmen Students:

I want to take just a minute of your time to inform you of an exciting elective course that you may not really know much about; Junior Reserve Officer Training Course, or “JROTC”. JROTC is an elective course that you take for credit, just like any other elective course.

But wait, isn’t JROTC like joining the Army? No. Unlike the Senior ROTC programs found at the college level, JROTC is not about joining the military. We do not recruit students to join the military. JROTC is a leadership and character development program that simply utilizes proven military skills to help develop and improve self-discipline, confidence and pride in ways not usually offered in school.

Just like band and foreign languages, JROTC can be taken all four years of high school.

Many freshmen sign up for JROTC as an alternative to taking Lifetime Wellness. If you take JROTC for two years, you get credit for Lifetime Wellness, which is a required course. Additionally, if you take JROTC for three years, you also get credit for Government, which is also a required course.

In JROTC, you’ll also learn leadership and team-building skills, communication techniques, how to motivate people, personal financial management, negotiating, map reading, and many more things. We’ll give you practical pointers on how to study, take notes, and get better test results. Fridays are usually “fitness days”, in which we do something to stay physically fit. Ultimate Frisbee and battle-ball (dodge-ball with nerf balls) are among the favorite activities!

All JROTC students are issued a uniform at no cost. Most weeks throughout the school year, you’ll be required to wear your uniform to your JROTC class one day a week. All the other days, just wear what you normally wear to school. There are a number of weeks during the school year that you will not wear your uniform at all. Once you get used to it, it’s really no big deal.

JROTC offers a number of extra-curricular teams and activities for students to join. The Raider Team does such things as obstacle courses, rope bridges, and adventure type racing. The Rifle Team shoots Tuesday and Thursday after school using competition style air rifles. Our Color Guard presents the U.S. Flag at all football and basketball home games. Our Color Guard is often asked to participate in community and civic ceremonies around the Williamson County area

If you have any questions about JROTC, feel free to contact your guidance counselor (472-4282), or call me or send me an e-mail. I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have about JROTC. You can call me at 472-4286 or e-mail at mikeg@wcs.edu.

I look forward to meeting you!

Sincerely,

Michael P. Goodwin

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired), U.S. Army

Senior Army Instructor

Centennial High School JROTC