by Bro. Jay Norman

Students in Gar-Field High School Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program walk past two signs in their classroom everyday, one reads “Set the Example” and the other “Do the Right Thing”. It would appear that the message was received and implemented by the JROTC as the United States Marine Corps Training and Education command named Gar-Field a “Naval Honor School” for its achievements during the 2009-2010 school years.  

Gar-Field’s program was selected as a Naval Honor school from among the 50 high schools in region 1 based on five categories: extracurricular activities, scholastic achievement, cadet citizenship, unit participation and unit inspection. At the end of every school year, Senior Marine instructor Major Bill Brannen, USMC (retired), is required to submit a detailed report to the Marine Corps that summarizes our yearly activities. The supervisors look at these reports from all the high schools in our region and select the top schools to be designated as Naval Honor Schools.

Major Brannen, who runs the program along with Gunnery Sergeant Lester James, said the report details the activities and accomplishments of the cadets in the JROTC program from their participation in school organizations and sports to community service, physical fitness and academic honors.

“One of the key areas in the review process is always unit participation, which include cadet enrollment,” said Brannen. “We have seen significant increase in the number of cadets in our program while many other schools are struggling to meet the required number. I think our numbers attracted attention from supervisors and may have helped push us over the top to receive the Naval Honor school designation.” The program has nearly doubled in size since Brannen began his position at Gar-Field five years ago with an average of 175 cadets registered a year. The latest count of cadets for this school year is 220, which is more than double the 100 cadet requirement to maintain the program at a school of Gar-Field’s size.

I think our strong focus on the cadets and their accomplishments is a large reason for the increase in enrollment, they give us the opportunity to be involved on a larger scale not only in our school, but in the community and they highlight our success. When we enjoy what they are doing, we tell our friends and that is when we start to see new faces.

A personal goal for Brannen was to increase female participation, since he felt many girls may have been scared away by the perceived military component, the reality is that the program is about leadership and character development. There are just as many opportunities for female cadets as there are for male cadets in the program. Half of the staff is female compared to the 2 to 1 male to female ratio when Brennan started the program. In fact, this year the commander of the program happens to be senior cadet Natasha Patterson, a female who has participated since her freshman year. Patterson says, “I have always been treated with a lot of respect in the program even though I am a female and they accommodate us females very well. I have never had any problems here and don’t know of anyone else who has either. The camaraderie and family structure of the program makes all the difference.”