LYNN — After nearly a year of inactivity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the award-winning Lynn English Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) took the field again last week in preparation for April’s National Drill Championship.
“After sitting in a house cooped up for a year, they’re excited because they get to practice with their fellow cadets, and hopefully bring home the gold,” said Sergeant Major Kenneth Oswald.
Their first practice since the pandemic was on March 6, nearly a full year since they had been able to rehearse.
The team has travelled to the All Service National High School Drill Championship in Daytona Beach Florida for the past 14 years. Last year though, the tournament was canceled due to the pandemic.
“It’s been tough during the last year because of the pandemic — it’s hard to teach leadership when you can’t be face-to-face,” said Oswald. “But they’ve adjusted quite well.
This year the championship will take place both live and virtually. The English team will perform virtually, recording their routine on a non-stop video and sending the video to the judges for grading.
They perform in three events, a regulation drill, a colorguard routine, and a more free-form exhibition routine.
The team will record their routines the second week of April and will learn how they placed in the first week of May.
The Lynn English JROTC program began in 1995 with Oswald at the helm, and since that point the team has become nationally recognized for their achievements.
“I don’t know if you have enough paper to write down all the successes the team has had,” said Oswald. “They’re too numerous to mention.”
The Lynn English JROTC team is among the best in the nation, winning two national championships in 2007 and 2014, being named a Navy Honor School for 20 consecutive years, and participating in a variety of community service projects.
They have assisted the community in many ways, collecting cans for food drives, donating toys and clothes to fire victims, helping with translation services, writing letters to overseas veterans, and reading books to young children.
They are also gearing up to assist other cities and towns in their Memorial Day services.
The program is run largely by the cadets, with a Cadet CO, a Cadet Executive Officer and a Cadet Sergeant Major taking the lead in shaping the program.
The program has lasting benefits for many who complete it. Oswald reported that there were about 15 former cadets serving in the police department, eight or nine in the fire department and 24 serving as teachers in the Lynn Public Schools, along with several former cadets serving in the legal field or in the military.
“I have yet to see any individual who has completed the program and who hasn’t been grateful for what it taught them,” said Oswald.
On March 10, the team was at work again dusting off of its routines — with dozens of cadets dressed in matching grey sweatshirts and holding drill purpose rifles marching on the field behind English.
“You can’t see the smiles on their faces because of the masks,” said Oswald. “But you can see their eyes lit up because they’re so happy to be back.”
