The U.S. Air Force (USAF) Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) unit at the Academy for Academic Excellence in Apple Valley, Calif. -- APPLE VALLEY, Calif. - The U.S. Air Force (USAF) Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) unit at the Academy for Academic Excellence in Apple Valley, Calif. became the first U.S. Space Force (USSF) JROTC unit in California during a formal transfer ceremony held Jan. 18.
The Academy for Academic Excellence is the fourth school to transfer, and the only charter school, said USAF Col. (Ret.) George Armstrong, senior aerospace science instructor at the Academy for Academic Excellence.
Air Force Junior ROTC is a Title 10 US Code mandated citizenship training program that is designed to educate and train high school cadets in citizenship, promote community service, instill personal responsibility, character, and self-discipline. The program achieves this through classroom education in air and space fundamentals and hands-on learning opportunities in a number of fun and challenging extra-curricular activities.
The program has more than 870 Air Force Junior ROTC units in high schools world-wide. There are more than 125,000 high school cadets in the program and more than 1,900 retired USAF instructors who lead, mentor, guide, and teach our cadets in high schools in the U.S. and around the world.
USSF Col. Heather B. Bogstie, Senior Materiel Leader, Rapid Development Division at Space Systems Command, who spoke at the transfer ceremony, said JROTC provides a glimpse of what a military career can be like, particularly for students who don’t have family members who have served in the military.
“When we’re trying to do STEM outreach to students at various ages and grade levels, Junior ROTC is really fundamental to providing that component,” Bogstie said. “That’s when kids are starting to think about what they’re going to do next with their lives. JROTC allows them to dabble in the military and see what types of jobs are available without having to commit to them. It shows them what’s in the realm of the possible.”
While JROTC programs serve as an introduction to military service, they are not accessions programs and cadets are never under any obligation to join the military.
“Even if they can’t or don’t join a military service, it gives them an appreciation and an understanding of what it means to serve your country, participate in community service and instills the values that each of our services is based on,” Bogstie said.
According to Christian Hodge, Chief, Public Affairs & Outreach at HQ Air Force Junior ROTC, ten JROTC programs are scheduled to transfer from the USAF to the USSF this year. Those schools include: Durango High School in Las Vegas; Space Coast Junior/Senior High School in Cocoa, Florida; Arlington Career Center, Virginia; Del Norte High School, New Mexico; Falcon High School, Colorado; Huntsville High School, Alabama; Klein High School, Texas; Shadow Mountain High School, Arizona; and Warren County High School, North Carolina.
The ten units transferring into the USSF include about 1,100 cadets, Hodge said. The units were selected based on proximity to USSF and/or space-related industry and other entities and geographic dispersal.
Transferring JROTC units to the USSF helps educate the public further on how critical space is to the United States, and how everyone uses space assets in daily life, Bogstie said. It’s particularly critical for the public to realize that there are adversaries that would like to deny U.S. access to space and degrade or destroy U.S. space assets.
“For my generation, space technologies seemed very out of reach; it was not apparent how they affected us each day,” Bogstie said. “Now, space is so much more accessible: there is an explosion of innovation in space capabilities by the government and commercial space industry that is inspiring new ways of using that technology. It’s a very exciting time to be part of this space renaissance”
“Space went from being really complicated and out of reach for the majority of Americans to now where everybody can use space and be a part of it,” Bogstie said. “There are so many more career fields – and even being a rocket scientist is more accessible than it used to be. These are the types of opportunities we hope USSF JROTC can explore with its cadets.”
“Participation in SFJROTC will provide our already high-caliber students with additional post-secondary opportunities as military space professionals, as well as careers in space operations, cyber intelligence, and engineering,” said Valli Andreasen Principal, Academy for Academic Excellence. “We are grateful to be joining the nation’s newest military service, Space Force, as a JROTC unit and to be part of teaching the next generation of leaders.”
Armstrong said the USAF JROTC program at the charter school started in 2007, and typically attracts about a quarter of the students in grades 9 through 12: this year, the program has 146 cadets; last year it had 171. The JROTC program is a class that students can take that is comprised of 40 percent leadership, 40 percent aerospace science and 20 percent fitness/wellness lessons.
The Academy for Academic Excellence is one of two STEM-focused charter schools operated by the Lewis Center for Educational Research; the other school is the Norton Science and Language Academy (NSLA) in San Bernardino, California.
The Lewis Center also operates the GAVRT (Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope) Radio Astronomy program through a 25-year partnership with NASA/JPL, said Jisela Corona PR and Marketing Coordinator for the Lewis Center. GAVRT students locally, nationally and globally have contributed to a number of NASA missions, including the LCROSS Mission to the moon and the Cassini Mission to Saturn.
Through the Jupiter Quest campaign, NASA/JPL scientists have used GAVRT data taken from Jupiter to refine synchrotron radiation models which aided in the planning of the Juno mission orbiting Jupiter. GAVRT student are currently collecting valuable data on the sun, Jupiter, black holes and SETI.
“Most recently, with the Perseverance rover (on Mars) – here we are on campus, and we’re looking at the same feed from the Mars rover that JPL is getting,” Armstrong said. “It’s a great opportunity for the students.”
Cadet Major Breann Wright, 17, Apple Valley, hasn’t decided what she will do after she graduates, but said thanks to the JROTC program, she feels she has numerous options, ranging from going to college to joining the military.
“In the beginning, I wanted to try something new, as a freshman, and I didn’t plan on staying, but I fell in love with it,” Wright said. “I liked the camaraderie, the chain of command – you know who to go to if you have questions. As I accepted more leadership roles, I grew as a person and I experienced a lot of things I don’t think I would have, otherwise. I learned a lot more about our military – what it takes, what’s involved, what it takes to be a leader and how to teach and help others.”
Cadet Chief Master Sgt. Jackson Gormley, 17, Apple Valley, said his plans after graduation are to go to college at Ohio State University and go into the sports industry. He said his time in JROTC helped prepare him not just for college, but life beyond it.
“Probably the biggest thing I gained from it is leadership qualities – it made me a better person,” Gormley said. “I gained time-management skills, learned how to be more trustworthy, how to work well under people and work my way up to be a leader myself.”