Cadets of Riverbank High's Naval Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps will undergo inspection during the morning of Friday, Feb. 18 and then pass in review in the Ray Fauria Gym at 3 p.m. With winter weather so unpredictable, the school is choosing to hold the ceremony indoors instead of on the football field this year, said Senior Naval Science Instructor Harry Rushing. This will be the school's 18th annual military inspection by a visiting US Navy officer and local officials.
Members of the public including retired veterans plus parents and spouses of active duty and reserve members are invited to attend the pass in review ceremony.
The intent is to let students see who is and has served in this area and let vets know an area program like this is available to students at RHS, according to the school's second naval science instructor Master Chief Mike Foster.
The number of students enrolled in ROTC has been climbing over the last few years and is now at 86 compared with 50 last year, said Rushing, after information came from the Navy it would be forced to withdraw funding if numbers did not rise.
The student company commander is Lieutenant Ben Hodges who has been with the unit four years. The school announced in December that Hodges has won a full four-year scholarship to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Offering students an introduction to military life, discipline and skills in tandem with regular school, the program has its members attend academic classes on Mondays and Fridays, wear uniforms and perform drills during seventh period on Tuesdays and do physical exercise that counts for school credit on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
An ROTC Boosters Club raises funds each year with events such as Fourth of July firework sales, work at the Riverbank Cheese & Wine Exposition and provision of a color guard at RHS football games, American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars occasions and civic events.
Last year's field trips included a 35-student visit to Camp Parks in Dublin for a basic leadership course and to the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo. This year, the unit hopes to get to the USS Hornet Museum on a World War II aircraft carrier moored in the Bay Area and to the Castle Air Force Base at Atwater.
Members of the public including retired veterans plus parents and spouses of active duty and reserve members are invited to attend the pass in review ceremony.
The intent is to let students see who is and has served in this area and let vets know an area program like this is available to students at RHS, according to the school's second naval science instructor Master Chief Mike Foster.
The number of students enrolled in ROTC has been climbing over the last few years and is now at 86 compared with 50 last year, said Rushing, after information came from the Navy it would be forced to withdraw funding if numbers did not rise.
The student company commander is Lieutenant Ben Hodges who has been with the unit four years. The school announced in December that Hodges has won a full four-year scholarship to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Offering students an introduction to military life, discipline and skills in tandem with regular school, the program has its members attend academic classes on Mondays and Fridays, wear uniforms and perform drills during seventh period on Tuesdays and do physical exercise that counts for school credit on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
An ROTC Boosters Club raises funds each year with events such as Fourth of July firework sales, work at the Riverbank Cheese & Wine Exposition and provision of a color guard at RHS football games, American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars occasions and civic events.
Last year's field trips included a 35-student visit to Camp Parks in Dublin for a basic leadership course and to the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo. This year, the unit hopes to get to the USS Hornet Museum on a World War II aircraft carrier moored in the Bay Area and to the Castle Air Force Base at Atwater.
