School Features

Before joining the Orca Company Navy Jr. ROTC at Mariner High School, Cadet Theresa Hofford was shy. She’d much rather be alone with a book than socializing with her peers. But now, thanks to the NJROTC program, she said she’s outgoing and makes friends.

“It really helped me to come out of my shell,” Hofford said. “It’s so funny – people say that I’m a totally different person now. Before they could hardly get me to talk, but now I’m just a lot more open with people and I put myself out there.”

Orca Company is a unit of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, a federal program sponsored by the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

In 1964, all JROTC programs were chartered by Congress and charged with the mission to instill high school students the value of citizenship, service to the United States, responsibility and a sense of accomplishment.

The NJROTC program, which functions as a class, focuses on leadership, naval operations, maritime history, navigation, naval aviation, seamanship, nautical astronomy, naval technology, oceanography, and military drills, commands and ceremonies.

“We like to think that the program gives them (cadets) a bootstrap up on the kids that don’t get this kind of training, and that it gives them better preparation to get out in society and be a contributing factor out there,” instructor Master Chief Dalton Van Houten said.

Van Houten and joint instructor Cmdr. Paul Spilsbury also host several activities for cadets, including community service, drill competitions, naval construction, flights, field trips to naval stations and military training.

Cadets may also compete in the Northwest regional NJROTC competitions on Orca Company’s armed drill, color guard, physical strength, air rifle and academics teams. An orienteering team also competes in the Washington Interscholastic Orienteering League.

Cadets gain self-discipline, self-confidence and teamwork skills alongside a diverse group of students in Mariner’s NJROTC program, Van Houten said.

“At high school, it’s really important that kids find that place where they belong,” Hofford said. “NJROTC can be that place, because we’re all headed toward the same goals, which are to graduate and become leaders. It’s great for kids who aren’t really sure of themselves yet.”

Cadet Training Officer Gerardo Villalobos, a junior at Mariner, joined NJROTC because it seemed like a class where he could grow as an individual.

“By taking the class I feel like I’ve gained leadership ability, followship ability, and a lot more respect for the Armed Forces,” he said. “I like the structure, how [project by project] one cadet learns how to be the leader and the rest of us learn how to be followers.”

Villalobos, with another cadet from Mariner, is currently attending the program’s Leadership Academy at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, where about 125 cadets from the Pacific Rim are getting a week of intense leadership training.

Hofford, who just graduated from Mariner, said she joined NJROTC on her dad’s recommendation but that she stayed in the program because of her new friendships, the challenge of the curriculum and the scholarship opportunities.

She was recently awarded $125,000 with the Naval ROTC Scholarship to continue her cadet training at Oregon State University.

“I love to watch these kids because I get them for four years – I get them as freshmen and I graduate them as eniors – and I see the growth, I see the light come on, and that’s what keeps me doing it,” Van Houten said.

Villalobos plans to serve in the Air Force as an engineer, while Hofford plans to serve in the Navy after college in return for her scholarship – however they both stress that NJROTC is not a recruitment program.

“That’s not what they’re meant to do,” Hofford said. “I mean, most kids that go through the program don’t ever think about joining the service.”

For more information on NJROTC and the Orca Company, go online to www.marinernjrotc.org.