WALDORF, Md. – High school students in the Junior Reserves Officer Training Corps — better known as JROTC — gathered Friday, Dec. 15, for the Col. Donald M. Wade Joint Services Military Ball held at North Point High School. The annual event celebrates the high school JROTC program that has a membership of more than 740 students attending one of the county’s seven high schools. The ball is an opportunity for instructors to honor seniors participating in their respective school’s JROTC.
Sydney Gunther, a St. Charles High School senior, has been a member of her school’s JROTC since she was a sophomore. While she does not plan on enlisting in the military, Gunther plans to continue her post-secondary education at college. She is not the first in her family to participate in the program, as her older sister was a cadet at North Point High School for four years before graduating with the Class of 2022.
Gunther said she joined JROTC because of the connections that can be made in the program. “My sister’s experience in JROTC at North Point and all the friends she made encouraged me to join,” she said. JROTC is an opportunity to build strong leadership skills, a sense of citizenship and responsibility. Gunther’s favorite memory is playing ‘Knock Out’ with her peers, a competition in which cadets practice drills. “It’s so nice to see everyone’s competitive spirit come out and really put into practice their listening skills while carrying out succinct movements,” Gunther said.
Naima Ligondé is a North Point senior and has been a member of JROTC since she was freshman. She wants to go to college or cosmetology school after high school. “My favorite memory in JROTC is when Lt. Col. Brown and Lt. Col. Ray danced with every cadet at the North Point ball in 2021,” she added. Ligondé thanks the multitude of skills that the program has brought her and is grateful for the number of opportunities, such as public speaking at previous military balls, award ceremonies and inductions over the last four years.
The Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) JROTC programs represent four branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. U.S. Army programs at Maurice J. McDonough and Thomas Stone high schools; the U.S. Navy is represented by La Plata and Westlake high schools; St. Charles High School has a U.S. Marine Corps program; and the U.S. Air Force is represented by Henry E. Lackey and North Point high schools.
The ball is named in honor of the late Col. Donald Wade, who served as a member of the Board of Education of Charles County and was instrumental in bringing the JROTC program to CCPS. The Joint Services ball incorporates various military traditions, including presenting colors and toasts and honoring prisoners of war and those missing in action.
After dinner — which is prepared and served by students in North Point’s Culinary Arts Career and Technical Education (CTE) program — more traditions are honored, including having the youngest and oldest cadets cut a cake and a king and queen of the ball randomly selected from the names of seniors submitted at the start of the evening. This year’s king was St. Charles senior Stone Jackson. The queen of the ball was Zaniyah Jones, who is also a senior at St. Charles.