English High School’s JROTC Program: A Long and Proud Tradition
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) is a leadership and character development program that prepares students for responsible leadership roles while making them aware of the rights, responsibilities and privileges of an American citizen.
EHS JROTC Color Guard, shown here, will participate in opening ceremonies of the 200th Anniversary Gala on October 1st.
Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) David J. Bennett is the Senior Army Instructor leading EHS’s Army Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC).
English High color guard marches in the 1960 Boston School Boy Parade when military drill was compulsory for all English High students.
Originally created as part of the National Defense Act of 1916, JROTC was designed “to instill in students the values of citizenship, service to the country, personal responsibility, and a sense of accomplishment.”
Bennett says the military influence at EHS has had a long history. It started under the Schoolboy Cadet Program in 1862 when the school colors were adopted from the Union Army colors (Navy and Columbia blue). English has had a number of graduates who had distinguished records in the military including: US Army General Matthew Ridgway, USMC General Paul Kelley, General William C. Whiting, CSA and a graduate who served in the famous Massachusetts 54th regiment during the Civil War.
In addition to elevating the body’s health, proponents believed the program elevated the will and discipline needed for success in any endeavor. Thus, military training became part of Boston’s entire high school curriculum for all boys and many believe this is where Physical Education instruction originated.
Read about the History of the English High School Cadets in this essay by Stephen M. Berkowitz, ’60
LTC Bennett says, “Student involvement is just starting to grow back again due to COVID that depleted the entire program of its leadership in terms of senior cadets and upperclassmen. Because EHS is a relatively small school, our JROTC program is small.”
JROTC march in Boston’s Veterans Day Parade.
Other BPS schools have JROTC programs including: the Marine Corps at Madison Park, the Navy program at O’Bryant, and the Army at East Boston, South Boston and CASH High Schools. All services’ JROTC programs focus on leadership and character development and use drill and fitness as core parts of their curriculum. Since the curriculum has many facets based on the uniqueness of their parent service, some high schools count JROTC as a history credit or a civics credit or a wellness/physical education credit while the Air Force and Navy programs have had their courses count as science credits due to their engineering and science-based curriculum focus.
JROTC helps students develop self-confidence, teamwork, self-discipline and leadership through various events and competitions against other high school programs. Bennett says, “We try to bring out their competitive spirit while teaching them such values as loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. The EHS JROTC program also provides service-learning opportunities to help others in the community. Events such as BPS Special Olympics, BPS Arts Department events, color guard requests for other special events for the City of Boston are a few examples. Students learn through doing and organizing themselves into small teams and through that process, develop leadership, followership, and teamwork skills.”
Minimum standards for JROTC enrollment are that the students must be enrolled as a full-time student, be in eighth grade or above, maintain an acceptable standard of academic achievement and conduct, and be able to participate in EHS’s physical education program.
English JROTC attend an aviation careers day.
LTC Bennett says, “A good citizen should be a well-rounded person who knows a little bit about a lot of things. JROTC has recently added more immediately relevant topic for young people such as financial planning, anger management, resolving conflicts, understanding and controlling stress, first aid, understanding the Bill of Rights, to name a few as critical for young people to know to become effective, contributing members of society. At EHS’s Army JROTC, we are proud to continue EHS’s long legacy and commitment to the concepts of honor and achievement for our young people.”
For more information about the English High JROTC Program, contact:
Lieutenant Colonel (R) David J. Bennett
Senior Army Instructor, Army JROTC — The English High School
Email: dbennett3@bostonpublicschools.org
Office: 617-635-8979 (EXT: 30052)
Cell: 603-345-4679
EHS Army JROTC Website: https://sites.google.com/englishhs.org/jrotcehs/intro
