Young Eagles 5/20/17
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It is important that people have the opportunity to fly at least once in their life. Flying allows people to see the world in a whole new way, and gives them knowledge. On May 20, 2017, a select group cadets once again travelled to Mettetal Airport in Canton to get a more personalized feel for flying. These cadets had the chance to fly with Civil Air Patrol pilots, and it is for sure something they will never forget. Cadet Armn Brown says “In my perspective, I believe it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to actually take the controls. It is an absolutely astonishing achievement for sure.” Unlike Young Eagles, during these flights, cadets had the capability to really fly the aircraft, with minimal but necessary assistance from the pilot.
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Anchor Bay 5/6/17
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Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” On May 6, 2017, 15 athletic cadets made the journey to Anchor Bay High School where they competed in an annual Field Day. All of the cadets had a tremendous amount of fun. Volleyball, Male and Female Basketball, and Quiz Bowl, all proudly brought trophies home to Garden City High School. Male Basketball, Volleyball, and Quiz Bowl brought back 3rd place, and Female
Basketball brought back 1st. Cadet 2 Lt Noel says “This was a very enjoyable day, even though we did not excel in every sport, I feel that it truly brought the unit closer together. Throughout the day different cadets communicated with one another to achieve the overall goal of having fun.” This day allowed MI-861 to grow not only as a team, but a family. |
Unit Inspection 2017
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The Unit Assessment is coming up fast! Our unit would like to welcome Col Taylor to our school on March 22. Col Taylor will be in the building all day to see how well the unit runs, and how cadets carry themselves. The Unit Assessment is acting as a report card for MI-861. The day will be filled with different events, involving multiple cadets. There even is an All-Call where all cadets meet in the auditorium and are briefed for the day's events. During this meeting in the auditorium, each flight will call their unique jodie. Cadets remember to make our unit and school proud!
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Santa Land Parade
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On November 26th, 2016, Garden City held its 56th annual Santaland Parade. People come from all around the state to admire the exciting floats and hear the cadences of MI-861. MI-861 marched a flight down Middlebelt Road and Ford Road, commanded by C/Lt. Col Sills and C/1st. Lt Malloy. The flight marched behind the unit banner and a six cadet Color Guard, which consisted of the American flag, Michigan flag, P.O.W. (Prisoners of War) flag, the MI-861 Unit flag, and the two guards on each end. A spectator had this to say about the unit, “I thought that the AFJROTC cadets looked very sharp this year, I always come to the parade to see them and hear those songs they call.”
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Veterans Day Music Concert
The willingness of America’s veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned our everlasting gratitude. On November 5, 2016, AFJROTC presented the colors, flags and gave Veteran's names at the Veteran’s Music Concert. C/Capt Sills stated that “It was an honor to participate in this event, and things went very smooth.
U of M Shadow Day 10/20/16
There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs. On October 20, 2016, 7 MI-861 Cadets traveled to the University of Michigan to take the first step in discovering colleges. The Cadets attended a lecture about how the college AFROTC works, and after shadowed a current College ROTC Cadet. While shadowing the Cadets were able to see the potential that the campus offers. Cadet Wilson even stated “I think today made me realize how important school is, and I will strive to do better so I have a chance to go to a University like this.”
Cougar Care Cafe
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Community Service is a huge aspect of JROTC. Many cadets love to complete as many community service hours as they can, doing these hours gives an extreme amount of time back to the community. On October 15, 2016 a group of cadets from MI-861 helped out at Cougar Care Café. Cougar Care is a local food bank to where people in need are able to collect cans, clothes and have a hot lunch for free at least once a month. Having the cadets volunteer at places like this helps them realize the difference they can make within their community.
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Fort Custer Field Trip
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The trip to Fort Custer was more than amazing. The first day we participated in a Land Navigation Training session and went through the course, Next time we’ll make sure to wear pants in the woods. Later in the day we had a group game of Capture the flag, That was some nice down time and team building before the next day. We woke up at 0500 to reveille on the speakers, we got our gear on and joined our Sergeants outside for Physical Training. After a quick breakfast we marched back to the barracks then straight to the Obstacle Course. We got down and dirty crawling under barbed wire and jumping over logs. It was truly something to get you working and out of your comfort zone. After a quick march down the road we were at the Leadership Reaction Course. With our safety helmets on we went out the doors not knowing what to expect. You really had to think and work together as a team. Overall this trip was one of the greatest team building events we have and it stands out as an amazing experience.“It’s time to get dirty.” - Sgt. Lamb
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Field Day
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MI-861 had its annual Field Day on September 22, 2016. Field day was the first major event of the year, and serves as an introduction to first year Cadets of our units events, as well as providing a day full of fun sports to help get fellow Cadets to make friends and establish a sense of comradery. Throughout the day Cadets sprinted through a relay race, and ran some distance in a mile run. They smacked softballs out of the park, scored goals in Soccer, and went head to head in Capture the Flag. As well as served a free delicious lunch by parent volunteers. By the end of the day everyone was tired and could barely stand from how much effort they were giving! Everyone appeared to have a fantastic time, Cadet Major Sills had this to say “Everyone had a great time and gave it their all, I could not be happier with the participation.” Cadet 2nd Lieutenant Malloy said that “The day was fantastic, I had a great time.” At the end of the day all Flights participated in the jodie contest, trying to outdo each other to see who had the best jodie. After the jodie contest all of the Flights were rounded up and the Cadets were dismissed, but the looks on their faces told how everyone would be looking forward to Field Day next year.
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Ice Cream Social
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September 15th was a very fun day for AFJROTC Cadets, high school staff, and even some additional students. Right after school people gathered outside the JROTC doors and enjoyed a variety of ice cream. A football and ultimate frisbee game also started up at the event. There was a fantastic turnout and everyone who came had a great time.
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Middle School Open House
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The open house went extremely smoothly. Though we didn’t get many signatures we talking to many potential cadets. There were a lot of Things we brought with us including trophies, shields, a trifold poster board and a giant banner saying who we were. It was good to see all the students interested in ROTC.
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Highschool Open House 2016
On September 14th, Cadets helped out with the High School Open House. Some arrived early to help hand out pamphlets at the anti-bullying presentation held by Officer Breen, and others came to stand in the halls to help out parents and students who didn’t quite know their way. Cadets Casey, Malloy and Noel talked in the AFJROTC classroom and helped parents understand what happens in our program.