KAILUA, ISLAND OF OAHU, Hawaii -- KAILUA - In the past five years, 10 students were offered and accepted service academy scholarships to universities in different states, and six others have accepted full Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarships after proving themselves as leaders through the Junior ROTC program at Kalaheo High School in Kailua.
Not only have the students learned how to be leaders in school and the community through the program, but they also have proved to be the number one ranked academic team within the Area 13 teams in the Navy JROTC National Academic Competition.
When a student at Kalaheo decides to join the JROTC program, the first thing he or she learns is the Cadet Corps Values.
The corps values include honor, which means cadets must recognize that they are responsible for their own personal behavior and recognize that it is a privilege to serve with fellow JROTC cadets and classmates.
They also learn courage. Courage means cadets will constantly strive to maintain the moral and mental strength to do what is right, with confidence and resolution - even while they face temptation or personal adversity.
The final core value is commitment. Commitment is the day-to-day duty of every young man and woman in the JROTC to join together as a team to improve the quality of the unit, fellow cadets, classmates and themselves.
"Along with the Corps Values, we emphasize academics and participation in a variety of school activities," said retired Lt. Cmdr. Henry P. Van Oss, senior naval science instructor at Kalaheo. "We recognize students at a freshman level who have potential to succeed and become good leaders. We groom them by putting them into leadership positions, so they can learn responsibility. They are also required to do community service-related activities while demonstrating respectable conduct."
Although the JROTC is designed for full-time high school students, cadets are taught leadership skills year-round. During the summer months, some students qualify for the NJROTC leadership academy, a two-week long school available to students who have completed two years of the NJROTC program.
"As instructors, [Van Oss] and myself like nothing more than when our students come to our program and set some goals for themselves, then achieve them with hard work and discipline," said retired Master Chief Petty Officer Bayani Benitez, naval science instructor with Kalaheo's NJROTC. "We are constantly telling our students to reach for the stars, and when they leave high school and are accepted to college, they then realize that all the hard work they put into their education has finally paid off."
It was Oct. 29 when another student in the Kalaheo High School NJROTC program learned that her dedication to the NJROTC program paid off.
When Amelia Abbett, a senior at Kalaheo High School and the battalion commander with the NJROTC program, arrived home from school, her father told her that the Navy recruiter had called and had some important information for her.
When she returned the call, she was informed that she was granted a full scholarship to Oregon State University through the NJROTC.
"The [NJROTC] taught me leadership skills, and I am ready to go to college, so I can earn a commission in the Navy," said an excited Abbett. "I have a lot of options open to me now, and I also have an advantage when I go to ROTC in college because I have learned these great leadership skills.
"I look forward to starting college in August of 2004."