As part of the JROTC curriculum at Marion High School, cadets complete service learning projects. They work in groups and decide a project they want to work through, from idea to action. Recently, some of the cadets hosted a clothing and food drive to help meet the needs of fellow students and families at Marion Community Schools.
JROTC cadets Jayden Johnson, Derrick Simmons-Lollis, and Shaun Caldwell, all Marion High School sophomores, sort donations from their clothing drive.
The group set an initial goal of collecting 10 boxes of clothing and food and quickly adjusted their goal within the first week due to the success of the project. Overall, the group collected 20 boxes of clothing, 25 boxes of shoes, and two boxes of canned food. After collecting the donations, the cadets worked with high school nurse Leslie Roberts to sort the items and distribute them to the other Marion school buildings.
The cadet group was led by MHS junior Skylar Ervin, who took on the duties of group facilitator, responsible for all group activities and project completion. The other group members were cadets Joseph Kaski, Brus Juarez Lopez, Christopher French, all juniors, and Emoshaw Brown, Shaun Caldwell, Jamari Johnson, Jayden Johnson, Keith Shelton, Derrick Simmons-Lollis, all sophomores. Each member was assigned specific responsibilities.
Marion High School JROTC Cadet Jayden Johnson, sophomore, carries donations from their food drive.
Marion High School JROTC Cadet Shaun Caldwell, sophomore, carries donations from their food drive.
As one of final steps to JROTC’s service learning projects, cadets are required to present a formal briefing to a local community leader. This year two local leaders, Robin Fouce, chief of staff for the Marion mayor’s office, and Grant County Sheriff Del Garcia, took time from their busy schedules to hear the briefings.
In addition, cadets are required to complete a written report that summarizes all actions taken throughout the project.
This type of project integrates meaningful community service with classroom lessons and reflection to enhance the learning process. Overall the cadets enjoyed working on their service learning projects. They gained a great deal of experience working together as a group and serving their community.