Senior Brittany Sutton remembers seeing her mother sitting by the phone every Sunday, waiting for it to ring. Her mom yearning to hear her son’s voice. The whole day her mom refused to leave the house and would start crying if he didn’t call right away.
Sutton’s brother served four years active and four years reserve away in the Marine Core . He influenced her decision to join JORTC her freshman year.
“I missed him because he was gone for four years and never came to visit,” Sutton said. “Its kind of scary because I never knew what would happen to him.”
One Sat. a month, JORTC holds competitions judging on how everyone look, dress, position and march. In competitions, JORTC splits into several groups called divisions. Each divisions are judged as a group based on every individual. JORTC next competition, Battle of Brazos, on Jan 28 in Waco.
“It requires a lot of concentration because you have to focus on what your feet and arms are doing because if you make a mistake [the judges] take points off,” Sutton said.
JORTC members are also involved in community service projects like working with special ed students and volunteering with Habit for Humanity. The students also go on field trips to the Texas Motor Speed Way, a sponsor.
“We do a lot of community service that most normal programs don’t do,” Sutton said.
With there being a very few girls in JORTC, planning the 2011 military ball was exciting for Sutton.
“It’s really fun seeing my designs and ideas all come to life,” Sutton said.
Sutton wants to go to college at Texas A&M University to study business or psychology. Sutton debated on whether to do ROTC in college, however ROTC requires members to sign a contract. Stating that the military can pay for college education, but members have to be involved in the military for certain amount of years after finishing college.
“I would rather get scholarships from other sources rather than have the military pay and have them take my time later,” Sutton said. “I want to keep my options open when I’m done with college.”
