Page 4 - MidWeek West - Dec 29, 2021

4 DECEMBER 29, 2021
Kapolei High School MCJROTC Is Nationally Recognized
BY MARIA KANAI
When Maj. Ahmad Martin talks about his students in the Marine Corps Junior Re- serve Officer Training Corps (MCJROTC), it’s hard for him to hide the pride in his voice.
The students come to Kapolei High School every weekday at 6 a.m. and most of them choose to stay until 6 p.m. — they love being part of the program so much that Martin has to remind them to go home. The kids tirelessly volunteer during the weekends — right now, the students are distributing water out to people affected by the U.S. Navy’s Red Hill contamination crisis.
Students involved in Kapolei High School’s Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps love to volunteer in the local community. Recently, they stopped by ‘Ilima at Leihano to honor kūpuna on Veterans Day (above and right).
PHOTOS COURTESY BECKER COMMUNICATIONS
The MCJROTC is a high school level program that allows students to grow and learn leadership skills to be- come better citizens. Kapo- lei High School is the only school in the state to have a Marine Corps JROTC program. Nationally, stud- ies show that the cadets are generally better behaved, have higher attendance, have higher self-esteem and grad- uate at a higher rate. If they choose to enroll in the mil- itary after graduation, they have the benefit of starting at anE-2orE-3level—adif- ference of about $150-$200 per month, if they were to
start at a lower level.
But, Martin says it’s a
we have — a reputation of excellence,” says Martin.
common misconception that everyone who enrolls in the class has to enlist in the mil- itary. In fact, only about 10% nationally go onto enlist. At Kapolei High, many of his students have gone onto at- tend prestigious colleges and eight students received ROTC scholarships — a full-ride worth $180,000 — through their involvement with the MCJROTC. Currently, 10 of his students are in the honor society (including the presi- dent and vice president).
Martin himself joined JROTC when he was a ju- nior in high school in San Diego in the early ’90s.
reputation. In the 2017-18 school year, the school had been named a Navy Hon- or School — a distinction awarded annually to the top 50 programs world- wide based on community service, competitions and much more. In the same school year, Cadet 2nd Lt. Oscar Faivre was granted the Legion of Valor award, the most prestigious med- al in the program with only five awards given annually
within a pool of 28,000 ca- dets. Since then, Martin is proud to share that Kapolei High has been named a Na- val Honor School for seven straight years.
because of the amount of time we spend with them,” says Martin. “I know some students who don’t want to come to school, but they enjoy our class so that’s the reason why they’re attend- ing. We’re a family, we go above and beyond.”
“Iwaslost—Iwasaknuck- lehead. JROTC changed my life,” he says. “I had a single mom as a parent, so I didn’t have a male role model. My two instructors became my role models and they were phenomenal in guidance and put me on track.”
“Our relationships with the students are drastically different than other teachers’
He was brought on board to teach MCJROTC at Kap- olei High in July 2019. The program already had a good
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