Outstanding AFJROTC cadets receive recognition from DAR

Cadet Colonel Anique Shirts accepting DAR medal and certificate from Color Country Chapter Regent Valerie King, Pine View High School AFJROTC Awards Ceremony, April 28, 2022. Photo courtesy of USAF CMSgt (Ret.) Todd Cole, Instructor, Pine View High School AFJROTC.

ST GEORGE — For nearly six decades, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) has recognized the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program as an important source for securing trained officers for our armed forces.  Operating under the umbrella of the society’s National Defense committee, NSDAR has been providing award recognition medals to top ranking cadets participating in ROTC programs throughout the United States at the high school, junior college and university level since 1967.

Color Country Chapter Regent Valerie King presenting DAR medal and certificate to Cadet Colonel Shailynn Lamb, Dixie High School AFJROTC Awards Ceremony, May 6,2022. Photo credit: Gabe Sperry

Recipients of the DAR ROTC medal must be in the upper 25% of both their ROTC classes and academic subjects.  Throughout the academic year, the student cadet must have shown qualities of dependability and good character, adherence to military discipline, leadership ability and a fundamental patriotic understanding of the importance of ROTC training. Only one cadet per school is eligible for this recognition award.  Awards are generally presented at ceremonies held at or near the end of the school year term. It is the responsibility of the unit commander’s leadership team to select the junior or senior school student who will receive the DAR ROTC medal and certificate from their local DAR chapter.

Air Force Junior ROTC programs are currently operating at two locations in Washington County; Dixie High School since 2006 and Pine View High School since 2017. This year there were 400 middle and high school students participating in this leadership building program.  This number is expected to grow in the upcoming school year according to local commanders leading the AFJROTC program.

Chapter Regent Valerie King, had the honor of presenting JROTC medals and certificates to two outstanding senior cadets at award ceremonies held at Pine View High School and Dixie High School.  The cadets selected met the eligibility requirements and were truly outstanding cadets worthy of DAR recognition from Color Country Chapter.

Cadet Shailynn Lamb

Cadet Colonel Shailynn Lamb is a graduating senior at Snow Canyon High School and was the group commander this year at Dixie High School AFJROTC, leading her color guard team to their second state championship in a row.  Under her tenure, the unit drill team also placed second in state.  Her leadership also secured funding for the unit to start both a marksmanship and sabre team program, both of which were highly popular this year. Under her command, the unit exceeded their goals and was recognized with the Outstanding Organizational Award from AFJROTC Headquarters.

Cadet Lamb has received three scholarships from DSU, SUU, and Snow College. While a senior at Snow Canyon, she completed the EMT program at Dixie Technical College and is now a nationally-registered emergency medical technician. She also completed the wildland firefighter program at Dixie Technical College.  She plans on attending both DSU and Dixie Technical College to further her training as an EMT and hopes to one day be a life flight paramedic.  She also is one of the very first advisors for the Ivins City Youth Council.

Cadet info provided by USAF Major (Ret.) Jennifer Ferrau, Instructor, Dixie High School AFJROTC.

Cadet Anique Shirts

Cadet Colonel Anique Shirts is a graduating senior at Pine View High School.  She recently relinquished command as Pine View’s AFJROTC Group Commander (top cadet) responsible for a program consisting of over 230 cadets.  Under her command the AFJROTC unit exceeded all of their goals.  For example, they set a goal of 12 hours of community service per cadet and they achieved 20.8 hours.    The cadet GPA goal was a 3.0 and they achieved a 3.219.  Her cadets executed 210 events to including marching in parades, planning and executing first class military functions, raising funds, preforming community service to the tune of over 5,200 hours and traveling across the country on multiple trips.

Cadet Shirts is the recipient of several scholarships which include the coveted AFJROTC J100 scholarship.  This scholarship is a four-year, full tuition, room and board scholarship only offered to 100 AFJROTC cadets from around the world!    She has a 4.0 GPA and  ranked #1 of 335 seniors in her graduating class.  She plans to become a pharmacist.  While in high school she was a varsity cheerleader and led her golf team to the state championship.

Cadet info provided by USAF CMSgt (Ret.) Todd Cole, Instructor, Pine View High School AFJROTC.

 More about NSDAR in Service to America

Founded in 1890, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution is a women’s service organization with nearly 200,000 members dedicated to promoting historic preservation, education and patriotism.  There are over 3000 chapters operating in the United States and abroad, making a difference in their respective communities.  For more information about the DAR and the many things they do in Service to America, visit www.dar.org or www.utahdar.org.

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