Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFJROTC) is a program at North Senior High School that focuses on developing students into citizens of character dedicated to serving their community and nation. Once you are in the program, you will be considered a cadet 24/7. Not only does the program focus on citizenship, but it also gives cadets the opportunity to learn leadership skills, and have a degree of personal honor. Students usually think that being in AFJROTC means to be involved in the military; however, it isn’t. 

AJROTC Cadets are active on Uniform Days, Fitness Days, and when they volunteer for school events. 

On Uniform Days, the cadets would wear their uniform the entire day, and they have to be very careful handling their uniform. All cadets would help fix each other up if something didn’t look so well on the uniform, and reminding each other to wear their hat when being outdoors. 

On Fitness Days, the cadets would wear their fitness gear to workout. 

On days they were volunteering for a school event, they would wear their uniform, hold onto the doors for people, and help hand out papers.

There are people outside of AFJROTC who have thoughts about the program: 

Saynab Ali, a senior at North Senior High School said that the only thing she knows about the program is that they wear uniforms, and she always wondered if AFJROTC is a military kind of thing. 

Evelyn Moua, a senior at North Senior High School said that she knows AFJROTC is “Something about the air force. They do drills, training, and they have to wear uniform on certain days. I always wondered what they do in general in the program, and I’ve always wanted to join.”

When cadets were asked: What is AFJROTC? Why are you in AFJROTC? What hardships do you go through? What’s it like being in the program? What do you like and don’t like about it?

Leilyanne Yang, Squadron Commander in AFJROTC:

“AFJROTC stands for Air Force Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps. I joined AFJROTC because I always wanted to break the barriers of women and men. I wanted to show a difference. It may not be a big difference but I like it to be slow. As Squadron Commander there are a lot of hardships that I have to overcome with and without my team. You have to go through a lot of requirements. In AFJROTC, the instructors look for a specific thing from you to see if you can take on the position or not. Being in the program is one of the best choices I made in high school because it changed my perspective and it has helped strengthen my skills as a leader. I like how the program pushes you out of your comfort zone and with that, it helps build your confidence. One thing I dislike is that sometimes some cadets can be a bit sexist, yet that’s one of my goals for this year, to break the sexist vibe. Where female can do what male do.”

Kou Xiong Recruitment Team in AFJROTC:

“AFJROTC stands for Air Force Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps and it teaches you about leadership and helps build leadership. It also teaches you how to be a better citizen with discipline and honesty. I’m in AFJROTC because I like being involved with the military. It also brought me out of my comfort zone. Being in the program doesn’t really have anything that is hard but i’ll say the hard thing is being a senior, because being a senior means you are in charge of everything and planning everything out. The Squadron depends on you and for you to lead and take charge of everything. Being in the AFJROTC is very fun because it’s like a family in the program. Everyone gets to know each other and participate in fun events. Also it is really busy because there’s always something to do like events or things in class. JROTC is really fun, very active, and really busy. I love everything from events planning to games and events such as the lock in, which you stay overnight at the school from 6pm to 6am. What I don’t like about this year is the lack of teamwork in the senior flight because it is very busy and all the people are not doing anything and just playing around.”

From the interviews of the cadets in AFJROTC at North Senior High School, AFJROTC is an outgoing program where you can show who you are as an individual and as a team. A program where you can make a lot of new friends and treat each other like family. Not only is the program all about being a good citizen but it’s also about fun too!