Junior ROTC cadets take part in program at air base

August 21, 2010 at 12:09a.m.

By SEAN BARRON

VIENNA

Kate Gabrovsek saw the rituals surrounding her brother’s graduation from boot camp, and they inspired her to reach higher.

“Before I went down [to Texas for the Air Force ceremony], I questioned it, then I saw how disciplined they were,” said Gabrovsek, of North Bloomfield, one of 23 Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps members taking part in a leadership encampment program at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.

Gabrovsek spoke Friday at the air base about the five-day gathering, the main purpose of which is having 910th Airlift Wing Reservists volunteer to mentor the cadets in grades nine through 12 on leadership, respect for others and teamwork, along with Air Force core values, organizers said. It is to wrap up with a graduation ceremony at 10 a.m. Sunday at the air base.

The JROTC students are from Trumbull Career and Technical Center in Champion, East Tech Schools in Cleveland and Green High School in Uniontown, near Akron.

Gabrovsek, a TCTC senior, said she feels the gathering will ”help me become a more mature, trustworthy teenager.”

Diversity sums up Gabrovsek’s plans, which include joining the Air Force to study radio communications, learning to be a fingerprint technician and being an auto-body repair worker, she said.

A military career has been deeply entrenched in Cadet Master Sgt. Jordan Hensley’s plans since childhood.

The encampment is valuable largely because of an emphasis on leadership and discipline but also its ability to encourage the teens to work together, said Hensley, of Warren, a TCTC 12th-grader.

“At the beginning, you go in with kids you don’t know, and then you become a family,” he continued.

His ambitions are to be a lance corporal and a noncommissioned officer in the Marines, Hensley said, adding that he intends to enter a three-month training program next June at Parris Island, S.C.

Long-term goals are to complete a 20-year military career and obtain a master’s degree in criminal justice, Hensley explained.

Also attracted to the military since a young age is Cadet 2nd Lt. Phillip Morrison of Garrettsville, who plans to apply in October for an Army ROTC scholarship.

After high school, the TCTC senior said, he hopes to enter college, likely Kent State University, and become an Army lieutenant. For now, though, the program is allowing him also to brush up on certain drill exercises, Morrison explained.

“I plan on making the military a goal for the next 20, 25 years,” he added. “After that, I haven’t given it much thought.”

The encampment program, however, is not about making the students join the military; instead, it is designed to instill values that will increase their chances for success in life, noted 2nd Lt. Danielle Williams, who’s in charge of the JROTC program.

The 910th Airlift Wing partnered with the three schools for this year’s event, Williams said, noting that some 910th Reservists conduct school visits throughout the year.

“We want to be good examples for them,” she added.

In addition, the five-day encampment is about instilling in the cadets a sense of accomplishment and giving their parents another reason to be proud of them, added Lt. Col. John Miller, a TCTC senior aerospace-science instructor and a teacher with the school’s JROTC program.

“I’m hoping they come out with a feeling of accomplishment that will build their self-esteem,” Miller said. “Hopefully, they will have a can-do attitude that will carry over into their personal lives.”