By Charlene Loggins

Special Contributor

The Wylie East Senior High JROTC program continues to mold our leaders of tomorrow, giving the young men and women the tools and opportunities to learn those skills.

Under the direction of Lt. Col. Wayne Wilbanks and MSgt. Lisa Breuer, cadets were given the opportunity to attend leadership courses. Seven freshman and sophomore East cadets were selected to attend a Cadet Leadership Course, sponsored by Lake View High School in San Angelo. That same week, seven junior and senior cadets attended the Brownwood Cadet Staff and Leadership Course at Howard Payne University, run by Cooper High from Abilene.

MSgt. Lisa Breuer led the WESH cadets in San Angelo and Lt. Col. Wayne Wilbanks led the WESH cadets in Brownwood.

Cadets from WESH attending the San Angelo Cadet Leadership Course included Tristan Cutright, Travis Delgado, Kaitlin Dowling, Ashley Henagin, Ashlyn Stewart, Chase Thompson and Rebecca Wright.

Attending WESH cadets at the Brownwood Cadets Staff and Leadership Course included Bryan Homechanh-Nguyen, Ariel Mavis, Nicholas Mavis, Bailey Simonds, Eric Sims, Elisabeth Teitelman, and Jacob Ward.

For both groups, the courses began June 7 and included daily uniform and room inspections, rigorous physical training, marching/drill training and academics. Cadets were graded on the skills they mastered in these five areas.

The cadet at the top of the class received the Honor Graduate Award while the cadets in the top ten percent of the class received the Distinguished Graduate Award. In San Angelo, five of the seven Distinguished Graduates were WESH cadets. They included Travis, Ashley, Ashlyn, Chase and Rebecca. In Brownwood, Elisabeth received the distinguished graduate award.

“While Colonel Wilbanks and I were confident that we had selected top-notch cadets to attend these leadership courses, the results were amazing,” Breuer said. “ I can’t wait to see the positive impact these student leaders will have on our Corps during the upcoming school year.”

At the graduation ceremonies June 12, family and friends of the attendees proudly watched the different flights of cadets individually perform an exhibition drill including unique moves created by the individual flights. The flights then performed regulation drills consisting of 30 commands executed in a specific order while staying within the boundaries of the exhibition area. The flights were graded on their execution of the regulation drill and the San Angelo Charlie Flight, which included two WESH JROTC cadets, Chase and Ashlyn, received top honors for their performance.

“The leadership course taught me to step up and lead in the most stressful situations,” Cadet Chase Thompson said. “It taught me many skills which I will take back and use to lead new cadets of TX-20093 and prepare them to lead others as well.”

Continuing to prepare students to lead, Wilbanks and Breuer will bring 10 additional JROTC students to Prairie View A&M University to a JROTC Leadership Course June 22-27.