Photo courtesy of Matt Sears.
The Lake Highlands High School JROTC Battalion joined the Exchange Club of Lake Highlands’ breakfast today at the Kaycee Club to provide updates on the program and recognize the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001.
Master Sgt. Calvin Washington and members of the battalion shared updates including recent evaluation scores and plans for the future.
One major update was the battalion’s recent evaluation, in which it scored 99.3% during its formal JROTC Program of Accreditation (JPA) inspection.
“This is every three years, and the last one was in 2023 and we got a 95.6, and then in March 2026 we got a 99.3,” Washington said. “We even earned the Honor Unit with Distinction.”
Photo courtesy of Matt Sears.
The Honor Unit with Distinction is the highest honor a JROTC unit can earn and is awarded to units that score 95% or higher during their JPA inspection.
To maintain the Honor Unit with Distinction designation, the battalion must score between 380 and 400 points on its end-of-year unit report.
One of the goals mentioned during the update was to establish a Junior Cadet Corps (JCC) battalion, a program offered at the middle school level.
“That’s one of the things that I want to move forward with for next year,” Washington said. “I think the funding is going to be one of the issues.”
Washington also said the battalion hopes to hire a third instructor as its enrollment has grown to 230 cadets.
After the various updates, the presentation concluded with a tribute to those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.
Members of the JROTC Battalion rang a bell four times, with each ring commemorating one of the four attacks that occurred that day. Following each ring, members provided a brief summary of the events.
