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Nevada High School AFJROTC earns Silver Star Community Service with Excellence Award
The Nevada High School Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFJROTC) has earned, for the first time in school history, the “Silver Star” Community Service with Excellence Award for the 2021-2022 school year. This prestigious award recognizes the top 5 percent of all AFJROTC units (870 units worldwide) based on community service in support of schools and local communities.
Colonel McGonigal, Director of Air Force JROTC, wrote in his congratulatory letter to retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Eckart and Master Sergeant James Quinlan, "The importance of service and understanding how it positively impacts our cadets, schools, communities, and our nation is a critical component of what we strive to teach through our program and is a central part of our mission in AFJROTC. The award is earned by units with the highest per cadet average of community service hours that are earned and conducted by cadets under the supervision of our instructors. This award also recognizes the personal growth and accomplishments of the cadets, contributions of the instructors as mentors, and the support of the school and local community. This year, the cadets of AFJROTC conducted 1.1 million community service hours. This is an incredible accomplishment and all units are congratulated for their efforts in supporting their communities. We recognize that it is not just about 'hours,' it is about the positive impact that these hours represent. The cadets, instructors, and schools are to be commended for earning this distinctive award."
All NHS cadets will receive the Community Service with Excellence ribbon with a Silver Star device for their uniforms. Lt. Col. Eckart, Senior Aerospace Science Instructor, said "Earning the Silver Star Community Service with Excellence Award is a testament to the culture and commitment of our cadets and to the leadership and dedication of our Cadet Corps, Flight Commanders, and Squadron Staff personnel."
For the current school year, Nevada JROTC cadets performed more than 1,858 hours of community service (an average of over 31 hours of community service per cadet) and hosted multiple events to collect food and monetary donations for the Community Outreach food pantry and Moss House, a local domestic violence shelter.
Cadets Gabriel Adams, Quinton Crews, and Tyler Vance led the way in community service hours with Adams and Crews each with well over 100 hours of community service and Vance just below this mark.
"This award adds to the success of Nevada’s JROTC program as it was awarded the Distinguished Unit Award from Headquarters Air Force JROTC last month," noted Lt. Col. Eckart.