The William Byrd High School Air Force JROTC held the 13th annual Military Ball and Awards Ceremony on April 25 at Thrasher Memorial United Methodist Church.

Guest speaker for the event was Lt. Colonel Janelle Jackson, Commander of the 317th Recruiting Squadron who leads active duty and civilian personnel in a 43,000 square-mile area that includes the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. She graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and holds two Master’s Degrees.

She spoke to the cadets on demonstrating resiliency during difficult times of change in their lives. The evening included the traditional POW/MIA Ceremony honoring those missing in action or prisoners of war in all wars and in all branches of the service. Many cadets and Vinton Mayor Brad Grose, who was made an Honorary Member of the William Byrd AFJROTC, participated in the Grog presentation which involves drinking a disgusting concoction for supposed rule infractions– to the hilarity of fellow guests.

Senior Master Sergeant Paul Richardson and Staff Sergeant Travis Townsend, AFJROTC instructors at William Byrd, presented the awards to cadets, along with Lt. Col. Jackson.

The first award of the evening, the Superior Performance Ribbon, was presented to Jonathan Davis, in recognition for achievements which are clearly outstanding and exceptional.

Davis “displayed this in an outstanding fashion by performing ‘TAPS’ for both our Veterans Day and Pearl Harbor Day Flag Retirement ceremonies.” Achievement Ribbons were presented to Zach Minter, Daniel Ellis, and Alexus Taylor. Minter stepped up to the challenge of performing the national anthem at the Pearl Harbor Flag Retirement Ceremony as a replacement vocalist with no time to practice, undaunted by TV cameras and a large crowd.

At the same ceremony, Ellis and Taylor “did a tremendous job of representing the Corps with their poise and phenomenal military bearing.” Leadership Ribbons were awarded to Tristen Price, Emily Robinson, James Stern, and Eric Oliver for representing the Corps this year in the Color Guard. The Outstanding Cadet Ribbon is presented to only one cadet from each year group. Recipients must be of high moral character, demonstrate positive personal attributes, display outstanding military potential, and attain academic and military excellence. Recipients were John Shelor, Zachary Minter, Jonathan Davis, and Triniti House. In Air Force JROTC, cadets are organized into classes called Flights. The instructors chose one flight which best exhibited the maturity, willingness to learn, and team work that distinguishes them as Outstanding Flight. Current Flight Leader Seth Dillon and Flight Sergeant Savannah Gantt accepted the award for Alpha Flight. The Tuskegee Airman Ribbon was presented to Savannah Gantt and Madison Palmer as outstanding first year cadets. “Their contributions and enthusiasm in class are truly outstanding.” The United States Daughters of 1812 organization recognized two junior cadets who exemplify the ideals upon which our nation is founded— Vincent Liu and Caleb Goneau. Those ideals include academic excellence, leadership, military discipline, dependability, patriotism, and upright character in speech and habits. Recipients of this award receive a ribbon for their uniform and a medal to wear at special events.

The Southern Rite, Southern Jurisdiction Award was presented to Zach Minter. This award goes to a cadet who contributes the most to encourage Americanism by participation in extracurricular or community projects. Emily Robinson was the winner of the Sons of the American Revolution award for showing strong leadership, military bearing, and all-around excellence in Aerospace Science studies. The award was presented by John Cahoon. Sharon Menzies, Regent of the Roanoke Valley Chapter of the DAR, and her daughter, Lt. Col. Heather Menzies, presented the DAR ROTC Medal to Heather Cavacloglou in recognition of her academic excellence, dependability, good character, adherence to military discipline, leadership, and fundamental understanding of the importance of the Reserve Seth Dillon was the recipient of the Air Commando Association Award, presented annually to one cadet who most closely exemplifies the 13 Critical Attributes of Success for Air Commandos, including integrity, self-discipline, maturity, judgment, and family strength.

SMSgt. Ron Hutton presented medals from The Retired Enlisted Association and the Air Force Sergeants Association to Will Cummings. The Retired Enlisted Association Award goes to the most outstanding AFJROTC cadet serving in an enlisted rank for exceptional leadership. The Air Force Sergeants Association Award recognizes a cadet who has demonstrated qualities in military leadership, discipline, character, and citizenship. The Military Order of the Purple Heart award was presented to Tristen Price. It recognizes a cadet who exhibits a positive attitude towards AFJROTC and country, holds a position of leadership in the Corps, and is active in school and community affairs. Price has been accepted as a cadet at Virginia Military Institute this fall. The organization presenting the award is made up of those wounded in battle.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Award was presented to Madison Williams for her positive attitude towards the AFJROTC, outstanding military bearing and conduct, and strong personal attributes such as courtesy, dependability, punctuality, and patriotism. Jonathan Davis received the Military Officers Association of America award from Brigadier General Scott Van Cleef, US Air Force (retired). This award is given to a cadet who is in good academic standing, possesses high moral character, shows high loyalty to the unit, school, and community, and demonstrates exceptional potential for military leadership.

The Military Order of World Wars award was presented to Emily Robinson as an outstanding cadet who has committed to remaining in the Aerospace Science program and has shown outstanding service to the AFJROTC unit. The Reserve Officers Association Award recipient was Eric Oliver. This award goes to a cadet with characteristics contributing to leadership, judgment, and selfconfidence, who also ranks in the top 10 percent of their AFJROTC class. Jonathan Davis and John Shelor received the American Veterans Award from Mike Fries of the local American Veterans organization. This award honors cadets who show great officer potential, and set the standard for wear of the uniform, posture, and grooming.

The Order of Daedalians Award was presented to Evelyn Laherty and Chase Dent. The award is named after legendary figure Daedalus and was organized by World War I pilots who sought to perpetuate the spirit of patriotism, love of country, and ideals of self-sacrifice which place service to nation above personal safety and position.

The most prestigious award of the evening, the Air Force Association Award, was presented to Eric Oliver by Dr. Robin Thompson, President of the local AFA Chapter. This award recognizes a cadet who possesses a host of positive attributes including outstanding personal appearance in the wear of the uniform, initiative, good judgment, and selfconfidence, with a high capacity for responsibility, high productivity, ad the ability to adapt to change. The cadet must rank in the top 5 percent of their Aerospace Science class. Oliver was to be honored again at the Air Force Association’s annual banquet this week.

This year the Military Ball program concluded with the retirement of the unit Guide-ons. The AFJROTC program at William Byrd will be closing at the end of this school year. Cadets in the William Byrd program, which has offered enrollment to all Roanoke County high school students, will be able to enroll in the JROTC program at Patrick Henry High School in the fall. The Corps decided that the most fitting tribute they could make to recognize the event would be the retirement of the Guide-ons— banners which have identified each flight for their entire time in the Corps. “The Guide-on is a symbol of spirit, dedication, teamwork, and unit identity. They have stood guard over flag retirements, promotion ceremonies, and parades. They even bore witness as we said goodbye to our beloved instructor Major Jeffrey Pruitt. We retire these symbols with pride.” Pruitt passed away in the early years of the program which was established at WBHS in 2006. The banquet was catered once again by Germaine Fletcher, who was made an Honorary Member of the William Byrd High School AFJROTC