Today, February 22, 2022, our JROTC Corps of Cadets went through JPA, a rigorous accreditation process that rates a JROTC program in several capacities. The goal for any program is to obtain the Gold Star Standard, which means achieving 95% or higher. Our corps of cadets scored a nearly-flawless 99.4% and again achieved a Gold Star that coins us as an Honor Unit with Distinction. For perspective, only about 10% of programs earn this distinction, and it's exceptionally uncommon to hit the mark above 99%—a truly remarkable job by our program's leaders.
CPT (RET) Rhodes, SGM (RET) Carradine, SGM (RET) Allard, and 1SG (RET) Rocha have done a phenomenal job leading and preparing these young men and young women who represented the corps of cadets with honor and integrity. Today is a product of their leadership and consistency in holding a meaningful standard.
Special recognition to Brigade Commander Luke Guajardo, Brigade XO Teagan Flinn, and Brigade CSM Adrian Castillo for being the type of young men that make Central proud. Congratulations to all of our cadets for the planning and execution of this honor! Without every one of our cadets, our program would not be the same. Finally, a special thank you to Providence and Incarnate Word high schools for their cadets and parents' contributions to the program.
For those unaware, JPA stands for Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Program of Accreditation (JROTC Program of Accreditation). Now, what does that mean? To the instructors and staff who deal with the JPA, that means our JROTC program at Central Catholic High School has been accredited by the AdvancED national accrediting agency, which reviews the program's quality. As an accredited program, our JROTC must continuously maintain the set quality standards by showing continuous improvement. In other words, JPA is something used by U.S. Army Cadet Command to ensure that JROTC programs remain up to date, are continuously improving (in all/most aspects of the program), and can effectively demonstrate cadet knowledge & advancement within the program. Should the program fail, the program will be placed on probation, then removed upon a second offense. For the individual cadets, this is a test of what they can do, how much they've learned, how much they've improved, what things can or need to be adjusted to help the cadets advance better, and, in many cases, cadets grow to be more efficient leaders & have stronger characters in the process; especially those directly involved or impacted. Congratulations to the entire corps, the Army Instructors, and the Booster Brigade for maintaining this coveted distinction.