He probably wouldn’t get the award.
When they’d described it, they’d said “athletics.” Logan Sullivan-Cruz was more of an honor society and Student Council kind of guy.
“Logan Sullivan-Cruz!”
Oh, that’s him. Oh, my gosh. He’s getting an award.
Sullivan-Cruz received the American Legion Post 336 Scholastic Excellence award, an honor to recognize students active in the school community outside of NJROTC, at last year’s NJROTC Award Ceremony. This year the ceremony was on April 28 at 6 p.m. in the auditorium, and it celebrated the hard work of the cadets and transferred leadership to the new cadet commander of the unit.
The change of command consists of a torch-passing ceremony and a speech from the new commander of the unit.
“Change of command is pretty nice because from there we’ve done our job and now it’s the incoming seniors’ responsibility to take on that leadership, fill in those shoes and continue taking the unit to higher successes,” current Cadet Commanding Officer Mia Escalante, a senior, said.
After the change of command, seniors were celebrated by a slideshow of their photos. They were also given NJROTC graduation cords, a gift the Cadet Parent Organization began just this year.
“It’s pretty cool,” Cadet Seaman Apprentice John Helgeson said. “It’s a representation of all the work that I put into the ROTC program.”
Another part of the ceremony recognizes students who receive awards by calling the chosen cadet up to the stage and describing the qualifications for the award. Awards included honor cadet, distinguished cadet and ribbons for excellent grades or appearance in the uniform.
Click here to see all awards presented at the ceremony and their recipients.
“I think it ultimately inspires all of us to do better in what we do, so that you can be up there on the stage one of these days and get that award, whatever it may be,” sophomore Sullivan-Cruz said. “[When I got an award last year,] it kind of made me feel like, ‘Hey, I’m one of them now. I’m not just a random cadet in the program. I actually mean something to this program.’”
Some awards are given by the school’s NJROTC program, but others are provided by outside organizations like Daughters of the American Revolution. These awards sometimes include scholarships or even money prizes.
“Getting this recognition makes me feel so happy and proud of myself for trying my best in the program and having amazing people to help me forward,” freshman Cadet Petty Officer Second Class Destiny Zuniga, who won the Legion Post 336 Excellence Award, said. “It motivates me to do better next year and to keep pushing myself to become the best person I can be.”
Zuniga’s mother, Sonia Zuniga, also feels proud of her daughter that she “made it big in something [Mrs. Zuniga] wasn’t able to do.”
“It was a very beautiful ceremony,” Mrs. Zuniga said. “When they showed the color guard team with the flags and the national anthem, I wanted to cry because of how emotional and beautiful it was.”
Sullivan-Cruz believes it’s important for families to attend the award ceremony so they can see the effort students put into the program.
“It kind of rewards not just the cadet, but also specifically the parents or guardians who take all this time out of their days to drive people,” Sullivan-Cruz said. “It shows that all this is kind of worth it.”
Master Chief Edward Smith, an NJROTC instructor, believes that the most important part of the ceremony is to acknowledge the cadets’ “hard work and dedication.”
“It’s really a celebration of the past,” Sullivan-Cruz said, “while looking forward to what is in the future.”
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