The Colts Neck High School Navy Junior ROTC Unit has earned recognition as the NJROTC
Area 4 “Most Outstanding NJROTC Unit” for the 2018-19 school year.
The award recognizes Colts Neck as the No. 1 unit out of 54 NJROTC Units in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Spain and Italy, according to a press release from the Freehold Regional High School District.
This is the third time the unit has received the honor, having previously been selected in 2016 and 2017.
This has been a year of achievements for the ROTC Unit. Colts Neck’s cadets completed 10,300 hours of community service hours for the local area and school. In addition, many of the cadets excelled at their academic studies, according to the press release.
Cadet Battalion Commanding Officer Nicole Dado has accepted an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md. She was also offered an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a Navy NROTC Scholarship to Yale University. Nicole will matriculate at the Naval Academy in June, according to the press release.
Cadet William Dean, also one of the cadet leaders, was offered Navy ROTC and Army ROTC scholarships to Texas A&M University and the University of South Carolina. William has chosen to accept the Navy’s offer at Texas A&M and will become an Aggie later this year, according to the press release.
Other cadets receiving support for their college studies are Liam Hughes and Michael Fluck. Both of these young men are benefiting from a five-year program the Navy instituted called the Presidential NROTC Preparatory Scholarship.
Universities have volunteered to provide a full scholarship to accepted students for their first year of studies. Students have to maintain a certain grade point average during their first year and if the student meets those requirements, the Navy will provide an ROTC scholarship for the student’s remaining four years of studies.
Liam will attend the State University of New York Maritime University and Michael will attend the University of Arizona on these scholarships, according to the press release.
The Colts Neck NJROTC cadets also participate in a number of extracurricular teams, all of which placed high in national competitions. Most notably, the cadets who competed in the athletic portion of the recent National Academic, Athletic and Drill Championship captured first place in that competition.
The program’s supervisor, Major Gregory Penczak, USMC (Ret.), credits the group’s success to the cadet leadership and dedication to the unit.
“We can all be very proud of our cadets who have made our school name recognized throughout our nation. Most Outstanding recognition has placed us among the top 12 NJROTC units in the world,” Penczak said.