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CAPT Dennis L Hopkins, USN (Ret)
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Congratulations to all of our cadets and their performance, both individually and collectively, during the NJROTC Annual Inspection and Pass-In-Review Ceremony that took place 26 October. Everybody really did their best, and the guest inspector, CAPT Richard Vanden Heuvel, was most impressed. Many thanks also to Mrs. Kristi Jasin and the Franklin High School Marching Band, who supported our event with a great musical performance! Last weekend (29 Oct) a group of 18 cadets and parents volunteered their time to do some clean up at the Detroit Memorial West Cemetery in Redford. We have an annual flag decoration project there in conjunction with Veteran's Day, and this clean up was a great effort. We will conduct our flag placing this coming Saturday, 5 November, beginning at 0900 at the cemetery located on Plymouth Road, just east of Beech Daley Rd, in Redford.
As I wrote to the parents and guardians at the beginning of the school year, and briefed at the Parent Open House, our NJROTC unit is among the many nation-wide that will have its funding removed by the Navy effective 30 June 2012. The Navy is undergoing massive budget cuts, and our program receives one-half of its funding from the Navy, and one-half from the Livonia Public Schools. I met with the our Superintendent, Dr. Liepa; the Director of Secondary Education, Mr. Archibald; and our Principal, Mr. Willenborg on Monday, Oct 5 to discuss the future of the program in the face of this Navy funding cut. It was unanimous that the LPS leadership is committed to keeping our program in place. While it may mean some changes in staffing for the future, I came away from that meeting with the sense that, barring something truly catastrophic, our program will continue to be a part of LPS for the 2012-13 school year. 4 Nov Update: Dr. Liepa has signed the application for our unit to be designated a National Navy Defense Cadet Corps (NNDCC) Unit, and I have forwarded that request to our Area Manager for subsequent approval at NJROTC headquarters. The ball is rolling in a positive direction for the 2012-13 school year!!
Here is the text of a letter that is coming home today, 9 Nov, about our annual Adopt-A-Family project for this coming Christmas:
November 9th, 2011
Dear Parents and Business Owners,
This year the Cadets of the Franklin High School Navy Junior ROTC Company are once again commencing their annual Christmas “Adopt-A-Family” program. This program is co-sponsored by the Michigan School Readiness Program, located at the former Adams Elementary School. The coordinators provide the names of needy families here in the Livonia and Westland areas, who, because of unforeseen financial circumstances, are in need of a helping hand during the Christmas holiday season. These families are often single-parent households that would otherwise be unable to provide any holiday cheer to their children.
What the Franklin High School NJROTC cadets do is adopt one family unit per class hour. This year we will have three and perhaps four families total. The cadets assess themselves to donate a set amount of money, usually no more than $10.00 per class member, as the starting point for their class effort. If a cadet cannot afford the class assessment, they see either me or Chief Polk, in private, and we take care of the assessment. The cadets then try to solicit contributions or donations of goods or services from acquaintances or employers who may desire to lend their resources to this community service effort. With the collected monies the cadets will shop for the family, wrap presents, and deliver their Christmas cheer on December 20th. Anything your family or business can donate to our effort will be greatly appreciated. These families always cherish gift certificates for restaurants, grocery stores, fast food, etc, in any amount, as these certificates help stretch already tight budgets. We also encourage our cadets to seek donations of non-perishable foodstuffs, personal hygiene products, or household cleaning items in order to make the collection we assemble for each family stretch into the New Year.
The teenagers embarking on this project are doing so out of a strong sense of community service and commitment. They are genuinely trying to grow their altruistic skills by helping people in the local community who have fallen on hard times. The only personal gain they seek from this effort is the knowledge that the value of what they are about to do for these adopted families will far exceed the strictly dollar amount they are able to raise. If you have any questions about our Adopt-A-Family program, or would like to speak directly with me (734-945-7786), please feel free to call at any time!
As always, if you have any questions about our program, please feel free to call me at 734-945-7786.
 Navy Standard Uniform
(pdf file - 132kb)
 Wear of Navy Standard Uniform
(doc file - 4,137kb)
 Rifle Team Safety Training
(ppt file - 22,234kb)
Powerpoint
Plan of the Week 14 Nov
(doc file - 37kb)
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JROTC SAT/ACT College Prep
This web site is for NJROTC cadets to sign up for SAT and/or ACT prep courses, AT NO COST!! This is a benefit the Navy provides to us for participating cadets. If your cadet signs up I will ask them for their login passwords, so that I can monitor their participation and progress.
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