Seven students at Apache Junction Unified School District are to travel to Honolulu in March for a Naval Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps military orientation trip.
The trip was approved in a unanimous vote Jan. 23 by the AJUSD Governing Board.
No district funds will be used for the trip, board President Dena Kimble said during the meeting.
“(T)his is a yearly trip they take where they go to the bases and they will be under 24-hour supervision,” AJUSD Superintendent Robert Pappalardo told the board. “I think it will be a great trip for them; the experience is once-in-a-lifetime.”
The cost per cadet is to be in excess of $3,000 for the March 11-15 trip with each cadet paying $700 and the difference being picked up by unit funds and the U.S. Navy, NJROTC Instructor Norvin Deleon Guerro, USMC (retired), wrote in a memo to the school board.
“The military orientation trip is packed with opportunities not available in any other forum, venue or class and includes visits to Pearl Harbor National Memorial Park, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, MCAS Kaneohe Bay, Diamond Head Monument,” he said.
“Our intention is to lodge at a local base if possible, otherwise we will stay at an Airbnb. We have scheduled physical fitness sessions and meals on the economy and various military bases. As always, the cadets will be under 24-hour supervision by both NJROTC instructors,” the instructor wrote in the memo.
The NJROTC mission is to instill in students the values of citizenship, service to the U.S., personal responsibility and a sense of accomplishment, according to netc.navy.mil/NSTC/NJROTC.
AJUSD has three elementary schools, a junior high school and a high school. The district is from Meridian Road on the west to the town of Queen Valley on the east and from the Goldfield Mountains to the north, south into the San Tan Corridor. Communities served include Apache Junction, Gold Canyon, Peralta Trail, Queen Valley and unincorporated Pinal County land in-between.
Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on X @rhdyer. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Richard Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.
Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions.
Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.
Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.
Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.
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