Destiny Flores is NWIndianaLife.com's #1StudentNWI representative at Hammond High School. For her first column, Destiny wrote about the school's JROTC program, now in its second year. NWIndianaLife.com is searching for one student from every school in Lake, Porter and La Porte counties to serve as a "good news story teller" with one column or feature story per month. Open positions are at Merrillville, Bishop Noll, Griffith, Highland and Hobart high schools, among others. Click here for a full description of the position.
Currently in its second year at Hammond High School, the JROTC program is changing many of its cadets lives.
Many teachers have stated that the cadets look professional and "great" when in their attire for the course. Every Thursday is inspection day, the cadets are viewed on their uniform and academic level to see if they are meeting the requirements that a cadet is to make. Every beginning of their class they recite the cadet creed.
“It feels good to be a Cadet because I stand out and I know I am doing good,” said Cadet Draya Williams, who is ranked as a Corporal.
The uniforms play a huge role in being in this program.
“The uniform gives you this pride that is really hard to get from everyone else," Williams said.
Sergeant First Class (retired) Micheal R. Jones is the Army instructor for JROTC at Hammond High School. He personally sees the growth of the Cadets first hand.
"I love being a JROTC instructor," Jones said. "I enjoy working with the cadets in the classroom and at community events. The best thing about JROTC is that it is different and most of the time it's pretty interesting."
Sgt. Jones helped create the foundation of the positive spirits at HHS, now all the students have to do is walk on the pavement.