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The Yosemite Joint Union High School District Board of Trustees will
hear a proposal for a Cadet Corp at its December 4 meeting.
The proposal will be to start the Corp in March of next year as an
after school program and then make it a class beginning in the Fall
of 2004.
YJUHSD Superintendent Bill McCabe and Yosemite High School Principal
Steve Raupp met with Colonel Richard Schneider recently to discuss
the Cadet Corp and the opportunities it offers students.
The California Cadet Corp is a school-based, applied leadership program
that is operated by the cadets. An adult serves as an advisor but
the cadets are in charge of all aspects of the program.
McCabe visited the Cadet Corp at Independence High School in the Golden
Valley School District earlier this year and says he was extremely
impressed with the students and how efficient they were in operating
the program.
“When I arrived,” he says, “the commandant was not there yet, but
the cadets came in and did everything that needed to be done to get
the day’s program started. They were efficient, they were responsible
and they demonstrated a tremendous amount of leadership. I was really
impressed.”
The Cadet Corp is operated by the military with support from the National
Guard. It was authorized by the High School Cadet Act of 1911.
Col. Schneider is very enthusiastic about the program. He was a cadet
for four years and has worked in the corp as an adult for the past
23 years. He is now an executive officer in the corp.
He says they see students’ grades go up, school attendance goes up
and schools become safer when a Cadet Corp is introduced. “Drop-outs
are non-existent in the program,” he says.
After three years in the Cadet Corp, a student can go into a branch
of the military at an accelerated rank. The Cadet Corp affords a student
the same benefits in the military as the Junior ROTC or Eagle Scout
award offers. Several cadets are accepted into military academies
each year.
Col. Schneider told Mc-Cabe and Raupp that every school that asks
for the Cadet Corp program gets it. The School Board is the governing
force and must give its approval. The district superintendent and
school principals are in the chain of command for the corp.
McCabe says the Cadet Corp will be open to all students in the district.
Col. Schneider says the program works well for every student, he has
seen cadets drilling in a wheelchair.
Areas of emphasis for the Cadet Corp are education, leadership, patriotism,
military knowledge and citizenship.
The Cadet Corp will work well with the district’s new Community Service
Award program, McCabe says, noting that students will be able to accumulate
community service hours through their Cadet Corp activities.
McCabe says he has been supportive of the Cadet Corp program because
it will offer an opportunity to students who may not be involved in
sports or other activities. “We have a lot of students go into the
military after graduation and I believe this will be an excellent
opportunity for them. It will also give students an opportunity to
find out if they wouldn’t care for the military environment. Either
way, they have gotten valuable information.
“The Cadet Corp will give our students another opportunity to learn
leadership, discipline and responsibility and it will give them another
way to be involved as a student,” McCabe says.
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