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Why I Became A Model Cadet

Decent Essays

I Became a Model Cadet

Dr. Laust’s Comments: This student's assignment was to write a personal narrative essay describing an event that dramatically affected her life. Her choice of narrating her rise in the ranks of JROTC is unique, interesting, and very appropriate for the assignment. She does a very nice job of using specific details to describe aspects of the experience as well as employing dialog to accent her account. The reader gets a clear sense of the impact this event had on her life.

I moved to Slidell in the summer of 1998. It was a start of my tenth grade year at Northshore High School. I remember going to enroll the week before school started. I followed my mom into the school library like a lost puppy. …show more content…

I wanted to be an outstanding cadet. I wanted to give people the impression that I got from Wendy and Dwight. I wanted to be a leader. One day two weeks into the school year, I was sitting in JROTC class at a desk in the back of the room and had no work to be done. The unarmed drill team leader. Cadet Captain Jerry St.Pierre, came in, pulled up a chair next to me, and told me about his team. They went to competitions, won trophies, and were a highly motivated team. I felt like this was my opportunity to be an outstanding cadet. The following afternoon I showed up to practice. I met the team and felt a certain kind of comfort that I belonged there. St.Pierre informed me that there was a competition in four days, and that he was expecting me to be ready. I felt completely unprepared. I did not know all of the answers to the knowledge questions they would ask me in the inspection, my uniform was far from being perfect, and I lacked the confidence in myself. Nonetheless, St.Pierre had confidence and motivated me. That Saturday morning before the sun had risen, I showed up at Northshore High School in my uniform that I had spent all night polishing and tidying up. Every brass pin sparkled, every ribbon and rank was neatly aligned and straitened, and all dangling strings and lint were picked from my uniform. Every crease in my

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