SFA Chapter 78 Presents Awards to JROTC and ROTC Cadets at Year End Ceremonies

Gary Macnamara presents an award to Santiago High School Cavalier Battalion JROTC CDT Joan Cao.

Gary Macnamara presents an award to Santiago High School Cavalier Battalion JROTC C/2LT Luis Frias.

Jim Cragg and James McLanahan present the Award of Excellence to UCLA ROTC CDT Nicole Spencer

By Debra Holm

Chapter 78 continues its support of local JROTC and ROTC programs by presenting awards to recognize exceptional members of JROTC and ROTC battalions.

On Friday, April 10, Gary Macnamara attended the U.S. Army-Junior ROTC program’s annual Awards Ceremony at Santiago High School, located in Garden Grove, California, on behalf of the local 82nd Airborne Association chapter. The JROTC program Cavaliers’ Battalion was established at Santiago High School in 1995. The Battalion has been designated as an Honor Unit with Distinction; this is the highest award an Army JROTC program can earn from Cadet Command. The battalion has maintained this designation since 2008.

The chapter awarded two members of local ROTC programs with our ROTC Award of Excellence. The awards are presented each year to a senior ROTC cadet at local universities who is nominated by their program’s professor of Military Science. Criteria for the award vary from university to college, but the award is open to both male and female cadets who maintain a high scholastic aptitude, score high on the military fitness test, excel at the institution’s military science program, and, most importantly, exhibit those aspects of good judgment and leadership skills.

An Award of Excellence was presented on Wednesday, May 6, at UCLA by chapter vice president James McLanahan and member Jim Cragg.

On Friday, May 8, Gary Macnamara attended the awards ceremony at CSUF to present the Award of Excellence to CSUF Cadet Matthew Ampanyuth.