Paint Branch’s Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC) program, which has existed at PB since 2003, has had an interesting and exciting year. Besides doing the traditional NJROTC activities associated with the program like drills, uniform days, and physical activity days, they also go on field trips to teach students about history and serving the community.
Excursions this year have included visiting schools, attending the Becoming Everything You Are (BEYA) conference, and participating in park cleanups. Future trips include Fort McHenry, Fort Meade, Andrews Air Force Base, the Maryland CareerQuest conference, the Baltimore Museum of Science, the USS Constellation, and a dog shelter.
Chief Mark Odell discussed some of the key trips they took this year, noting that they visited the BEYA conference recently to expose cadets to STEM careers. At the conference, cadets could talk with representatives from big companies such as Google, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Walmart, and possibly earn an internship with them. One of the trip’s attendees, Cadet Anthony Dimichael thought it was pretty useful because there were about 50 to 80 companies from different backgrounds like tech, retail, and military, and he believed that “if you’re unsure of a career and you go there, you can find stuff pretty quick.”
While the trips the program takes are memorable moments, the day-to-day aspects of NJROTC center the cadets. Cadet Daniel Ayala-Schell says “It is really good for discipline, and good for building habits because it really pushes that mentality of if you wanna do this, and have it done in a certain way, and have it done like that every day, everything is available.”
Although some people might view NJROTC as a very serious military program, it’s the opposite. Dimichael says that “if you pay attention and you’re committed, it can be really fun.” Additionally, while some people have joined NJROTC because they show interest in joining the Armed Forces, the main goal of the program is not to get people to join up, but instead get them to build discipline, character, and leadership.
