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Bainbridge High School’s AFJROTC Unit was recently presented with the Distinguished Unit Award, continuing a long tradition of excellence SMSgt. Scott Morehouse has implemented in the program.

In order to receive the Distinguished Unit Award, each cadet in the unit must complete an average of 12 community service hours.

According to Morehouse, the Bainbridge High School AFJROTC unit has 102 cadets, who have averaged 16.89 community service hours this school year.

“We not only beat it (the requirements), but beat it by a pretty good margin,” Morehouse said.

In order for the hours to count, the community service project has to be put on by AFJROTC, Morehouse explained.

This year, through their multiple projects, the cadets acquired a total of 1,720 community service hours.

Another bullet point the unit had to meet in order to qualify for the award was offering a minimum of seven LDRs, which are Leadership Development Requirements.

“We have quite a few more than that, because we get involved in everything,” Morehouse said.

Some of the LDRs that the AFJROTC unit completed this year were multiple color guards, flag details, competitions and the Raider fitness team.

Each time the unit would complete an LDR, Morehouse said he would log it in, where it would be all combined into one report for the AFJROTC Headquarters to review, in order to see who is most deserving of the Distinguished Unit Award.

Morehouse shared that when logging in their hours, he also had to meet approximately 20 requirements in his reports he filled out twice a year.

“If the instructor forgets to fill something out, the kids can’t receive any awards, so there’s a lot on us too, because we know the kids are going to do their part,” Morehouse said.

The unit certainly did their part in a recent competition at Thomasville High School’s Annual 2022 THS All-Service Field Day.

BHS took home the top three spots in Individual Drill Regulation.

Anthony Pearson placed 1st, with Malcolm Spann placing 2nd and Alexander Pearson placing 3rd.

Spann placed 2nd in the mile run, while Kayla Braswell placed 3rd.

In push-ups, Wade Spooner placed 2nd and Emily Shea placed 3rd, while Devi Patel claimed 2nd in sit-ups and Brett Pope placed 4th.

The team of Chris Nelson, Nicole Nelson, Charlie Harrell, Sarah Ritter, Sarah Holley, Alexander Pearson and Wade Spooner placed 3rd in tug-of-war, while the team of Zach Miller, Alexander Pearson, Cory Hall, Emily Shea, Sarah Holley and Emma Watson placed 2nd in the obstacle course.

The team placed third overall.

Morehouse said he was proud of his unit, as it has been a challenging year, starting back late with COVID-19.

“They have been excellent, though,” he said. “I couldn’t be more proud of all they’ve done; we (the instructors) just facilitate the program, they run the program.”

Due to their outstanding service this year, BHS now joins the ranks of Thomas City Schools and Lowndes County High School as a Distinguished Unit.