As a way to educate junior high students about the different aspects of the AFJROTC program at Brazoswood High School, a select group of current cadets traveled to Lake Jackson Intermediate on September 11th to speak with students.
During this field trip, every cadet had a specific job to do, but they all shared one common goal of interacting with students and gauging their interest.
“During the field trip, I was in charge of the students from Brazoswood High School that went on the trip to LJI, and I made sure they were doing everything and were interacting with the kids,” junior Evening Alexander said. “I think overall the trip went really well, we got 101 kids to sign up.”
While a handful of stations were designed for students to strictly learn, there were also some stations that were made to add some fun to the meeting. Junior Taelynn Vargas worked at the ‘Dress to Impress’ station, which encouraged a lot of students to sign up for the JROTC program.
“At the field trip, we had different stations to work at so we could interact with the kids, and I worked at the head, knees, shoulders and ball station, as well as the ‘Dress to Impress’ station, but we also had tug of war, flag folding, and rifle teaching,” Vargas said. “The best part was seeing the kids actually interested in what we were saying and having over 100 kids sign up to join.”
Although this field trip was for teaching and recruiting some new cadets, it was also a learning experience for the current cadets.
“I think I learned how to talk with the kids better since they are much younger than us, so I think finding the right way to talk to them and show them stuff was a big thing I learned,” senior Veronika Reznichenko. “Overall, I think this trip taught me how to talk better to people in general.”
While the cadets talked to the students, they were able to form many connections which helped them get more students to sign up to join JROTC. Showing the students things they can be a part of makes them more eager to learn and want to join these programs.
“I learned that the kids that are younger are really rambunctious, and energetic but they are eager to learn,” junior Landon Gutierrez said. “I also really just liked making that connection with them and seeing that younger generation wanting to connect and do something they like.”
