News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Livingston Academy’s newly launched JROTC program reporting good student participation as the program gets started.
JROTC Instructor Sergeant First Class Kelly Deming said the focus this year has been laying the foundations of the program. Deming said students have been taking charge within the program, following its mission statement of building capable and respectable citizens.
“One of the things that I really like about this program is just giving them the chance to kind of hone and build their leadership skills,” Deming said. “And yeah, they’re doing a fantastic job.”
Deming said part of the foundation laying has been teaching cadets the basics such as how to march and rank structure. Deming said student signup has been good, and the interest is growing.
“It’s definitely still in its infancy, we’re just getting started,” Deming said. “Because with the program there’s just so many extra activities we can do outside of school, drill teams and things like that, so now we’re just starting to build.”
Deming said things like the drill team are currently being built. He said that will later allow Livingston to participate in competitions with other schools.
“I enjoy it,” Deming said. “I’ve known for a while once I started thinking about retirement that this is what I wanted to do.”
Deming said the JROTC is expecting a greater number of cadets in the next sign-up than there are currently enrolled. Deming said as the JROTC program progresses he’s hoping for it to become increasingly active in the community.
Deming said that JROTC is a program that builds upon itself and will continue to advance as the foundations are laid.
