The Hill Country Chapter of the Military Order of the World Wars (MOWW) honored three local Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) cadets at the chapter’s monthly meeting on May 12. While the cadets had received MOWW Medals of Merit at their high school awards ceremonies, Tuesday’s meeting allowed the chapter members to honor them for their leadership and outstanding performance. The following cadets (accompanied by their parents) were honored: Cadet Arnel Dequina (father: Joseph), Tivy High School; Cadet Tyler Allen (father: Jesse), Boerne Champion High School; and Cadet Erin Wehmeyer (mother: Olivia), Fredericksburg High School.

The cadets told the group how JROTC had changed their lives for the better. All three cadets plan to participate in ROTC in college.

Fredericksburg High School NJROTC cadet Erin Wehmeyer told the group about her unit and the way the cadets are running the organization— they are learning leadership by doing it.

According to the United States Code of Federal Regulations, the purpose of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps is “to instill in students in [the United States] secondary educational institutions the values of citizenship, service to the United States, and personal responsibility.” The JROTC program performs three of the elements of the MOWW founding principles: “(1) To inculcate and stimulate love of our country and flag, (2) To promote patriotic education in our nation, and (3) To promote the cultivation of military, naval and air science…” JROTC is a citizenship program, not a recruiting program for the military. The students who participate in JROTC do not incur any military obligation.

The chapter also received a status report on the Youth Leadership Conference to be held at Schreiner University June 14-18. The Hill Country Chapter is sponsoring the five-day conference where the students will learn leadership, patriotism, and the American enterprise system through a combination of presentations, student exercises and workshops. Forty-five high school juniors from throughout Texas are currently scheduled to attend.

MOWW is a patriotic, non-partisan organization of all veterans who are retired, former, on active duty or members of the Reserves or the National Guard—to include active duty for training—in the Uniformed Services of the United States of America. There is no requirement to have fought in a world war. More information is available from the chapter commander, Rear Admiral Stephanie Keck, USN (ret) at hillcountrymoww@ gmail. com.