Valley View High School BEACON Fall 2018 | Page 8

Blazer Board is on Fire

The Valley View JROTC Program has many stunning aspects to being a JROTC Cadet here at Valley View High School. One of those main aspects is participating in the Blazer Board at Home football games. The point of the Blazer Board is for one cadet to lay onto the board and other cadets lift it up. After the board is raised among the crowd, the cadet on the board will do push ups when points are scored. To be really committed into doing Blazer Board, you must be doing JROTC’s Raider Team at 6:00 A.M. to be on the Blazer Board team. But once you join the team, it’s a fun experience going to the football games. Before the football games start, all cadets put face paint on their faces for spirit for our high school. We have 2-3 cadets carry our board out to the field at least an hour before the football game even starts. We must also practice our technique and who does how many pushups when our Valley View football team makes a touchdown. More aspects next to Blazer Board in our JROTC program. We also have four cadets show our color guard for the national anthem before the football game. Some projects we do in JROTC is we work at the Fall Festival that our school hosts. We have every cadet in our program to work and help set up booths, and we run our own marksmanship booth during the Fall Festival. One of JROTC’s biggest project is the Obstacle Course. The course that was brand new last year is now almost completed but still a work in progress. JROTC hosts a work day towards the beginning of the school year that requires all of JROTC cadets and with extra help of their parents to accomplish the finishing course. Another aspect of JROTC is the morning and after school activities that takes place throughout the week. We have Marksmanship, Raider Team in the early morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Color Guard practice on Wednesdays after school. Showing up to these kinds of practices shows great commitment in a JROTC cadet. To do Color Guard for the JROTC program takes a lot of commitment like showing up to the practices as much as possible and keeping your uniform properly straight and clean.

Katherine Pierce, Madison Kennedy, Caroline Roach