Each OCPS high school boasts either a Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program sponsored by branches of the U.S. armed services (Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy) or National Defense Cadet Corps*. In addition to academic courses and physical training, programs develop discipline, military training, public service, leadership skills and more in more than 3,000 high school students.
Air Force
Cadets are overseen by servicemen and women who have had distinguished military careers, and after traveling the world and learning about various countries and cultures, they have retired and come to OCPS to impart to future generations. Below is a snapshot of a few of our JROTC programs and the servicemen who are shaping our students for service.
Ret. Chief Master Sgt. Robert Nutting (right and left) joined the Air Force while he was still in high school in New York state. After more than 30 years of military service, which included traveling to 22 countries and across the United States as well as Puerto Rico and Guam, he retired and relocated to Orlando for the opportunity to teach for OCPS.
As the first Air Force JROTC program in the district, Oak Ridge High’s program is still going strong 46 years later. Taught by three instructors in five courses of instruction, its 231 cadets focus on peer leadership and hands-on learning.
"You grow by exposing yourself to people with different views and ideas, different beliefs and backgrounds, not by surrounding yourself with people the same as you," said Nutting, whose own father served in the army. "As the students learn from me, and each other, I also learn from the students."
*National Defense Cadet Corps is a program of instruction, under 10 U.S. Code 4651, that provides military training at secondary schools that do not have Reserve Officers' Training Corps training.
12 | Orange Peal
