New club explores options for service

Some after-school activities develop students’ football skills or musical finesse; one teaches them to become soldiers.

Senior Jacob Pence and junior Michael Moon founded the Armed Forces Club to serve as a learning opportunity for military-bound students. “We don’t have any military involvement in the school because we couldn’t get a JROTC program school. This program gets students closer to military involvement by introducing them to military personnel and what they do,” Pence said. “I want to specifically go to West Point military academy. My family has a large military background, and it’s a great way to jumpstart a future career and schooling.”

The club meets in room 146 after school every Tuesday and Thursday. “On Tuesdays we practice form cadences and do physical workouts while on Thursdays we meet with military personnel and participate in activities specific to a branch,” Pence said.

The Armed Forces Club is currently planning a variety of events. “We want to progress throughout the year, fix our cadences and, in the future, an activity is to take a C130 cargo plane ride,” Pence said.

The club is also planning on having a National Guard weapons simulator at the Armory at 3:30 today, a National Guard base tour at noon on March 16, a National Guard tactical paintball maneuver on May 11 and an Army boot camp obstacle course.

The club is supervised by teachers with military experience: history teacher Kevin Stewart and math teachers Rich Strike and Ron Hoofnagle. “I think any experience a student who is considering military service can get before entering the military is beneficial. It gives them an opportunity to make a better-informed decision because the club will introduce career opportunities and some of the knowledge and discipline topics involved in every military job,” Hoofnagle said.

“Well, right now I’m enlisted in the Marine Corps, so I felt like if I’m part of the armed forces I should be involved in Armed Forces Club as well,” senior Gwen Davies said.

Another event that the club is working on is one that the school was also involved with last year.

“In memory of Travis Vaughn, there will be a collection of personal toiletry items to help deployed service members be more comfortable while deployed in tough parts of the world. A memorial will also be dedicated at the high school in the next couple months, and the AF Club plans to provide an honor guard for that ceremony,” Hoofnagle said.