The Rider JROTC Banquet is a formal social function similar to the Army Banquet held annually in the MPEC in mid-April Special activities from presenting the colors to an award ceremony the banquet starts to become a tradition for the JROTC Banquet.
“The JROTC Banquet is a social function to teach the cadets how to act in a formal dinner,” JROTC Instructor Ret. LTC Kuhl said.” Special activities in the banquet are also important to the function and flow of the event.”
The color guard and sabre team are two of the few special events in the banquet. The two teams have a specific purpose and contribution to the mood and overall feeling of the event.
“The color guard was really cool and sharp,” Cadet Sgt. Preston said.” It was really exciting to be a part of and I think it really was cool to see from the audiences point of view.”
The Sabre team are composed of a few individuals with swords. The Sabre team raises their swords in honor of the seniors graduating from high school.
“I liked being in the Sabre team because some of my close friends are seniors,” Cadet Sgt Davis said.” it was cool being part of honoring the high level officers of JROTC as they leave for the military or just what they want in life.”
Tears came to the eyes of some veterans of Vietnam as the girls did their special presentation of the flag.
“The girls walked in with the flag with a look on their face as if they just witnessed a soldier lose is life,” SSgt Chatelet said.”Seeing the girls briskly fold the flag and tell what each fold represents just warms my heart.”
Junior Missy Vega describes the dancing portion of the banquet as the most fun.
“Dancing was the most exciting part of the evening for me,” Vega said.” It was really fun and fast paced you sometimes didn’t know what you were doing or who u were dancing with. You just let go and had fun.”
S9Sgt Hernandez said that he enjoyed watching the teenagers and family members join in on the dancing.
“It was interesting to watch how today’s teenagers dance and how they have fun,” Hernandez said.” It was really different from how we did back in my day.”
Many of the cadets that were in JROTC were given special awards or ribbons from completing a certain challenge or community service.
“ I was really excited and thrilled when I got my award.” Preston said.”I felt really accomplished and like I made myself reach my goals I set for the year. I will absolutely want to go to the next years banquet and see what else i accomplished.