Photo Courtesy of Christoly Georges
Orange High School’s Naval Junior ROTC held its annual inspection on March 5, welcoming a former Navy commander to preside over the high school students in the program.
In its seventh year, the NJROTC boasts 102 cadets, some of whom have gone on to military service. The inspection honors the cadets who have won awards and shows the community the drill they have learned over the course of the school year.
This year, OHS cadets honored James A. Summers-Johnson, an Orange native who served in the United States Army during the Korean War.
“The inspection is to make sure we’re meeting all requirements,” Chief Thomas Sperduto, the naval science instructor and head of the NJROTC program in Orange, said. “We have 102 cadets, but if we had more room we would have even more.”
Four platoons showed off the drill they have learned to family, friends and city officials before the drill team led by senior and Drill Commander Gregory Clossaint marched across the gym.
A cadet of the week and month are chosen for each time period since September; they were honored by name as well as the cadets who have had perfect attendance. The cadets, who range in age across all four classes at OHS, then invited their families to the floor to recognize them for their support.
Also honored was Anthony Vitiello, the son of Orange Police Chief Vincent Vitiello, who graduated from the military school Norwich University and will soon be serving in the U.S. Army. Shortly after, OHS senior and Lt. Jr. Grade Karen Santamaria took the oath of enlistment to serve in the United States Air Force.
“When we talk about building leadership and we talk about growing the next generation of people to lead this town and this country, just know that many of them came from Orange High School,” Mayor Dwayne Warren said at the ceremony. “On behalf of the 30,000 residents of the city of Orange, I want to say thank you. I have been in office long enough to see all of these students come into high school and go through high school. I’ve seen their faces at events and I’m going to miss a lot of them.
Summers-Johnson enlisted in the Army in 1950 and completed basic training at the Fort Dix military base. Master Chief Petty Officer Christoly Georges took a portrait of Summers-Johnson and presented it to him at the event before all the cadets walked by him and saluted. Summers-Johnson saluted each cadet back.
Humphreys, who now oversees 26 high schools in the New Jersey and New York City area, has gone to about 31 inspections this year so far. According to him, OHS has the most community support he has ever seen.
“I can see how the city has really embraced it,” Humphreys said. “The whole school has been elevated by what has been built here. I’ve never seen so much community support at one of these events.”
Humphreys was referring to the many city officials in attendance in addition to the families: members of the Orange Fire Department and Orange Police Department, Board of Education members, Superintendent Gerald Fitzhugh, Warren and several city council members. The gym’s bleachers were full.
According to Humphreys, about 5 % of JROTC cadets go on to serve in the military. Many others go to either college or trade school.
“They go out into the community and become leaders,” he said. “When the community embraces them, it grows. It builds citizenship. Here, they’ve built a tremendous program in a short amount of time.”
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