The Bataan Death March Memorial Hike is a 14-mile hike along the coastal trail with our sister AFJROTC programs from South and Eagle River. This hike is preceded by in-class lessons about the historical Bataan Death March, with the intention of remembering and honoring the lives and sacrifices of those lost to the march, and the cruel conditions they were put through. While the conditions of the memorial hike and cadets participating in it are incomparable to the historical hike, the long distance and often rough conditions serve to put history in perspective and help cadets to further honor the lost soldiers. 

The Military Ball, often referred to as Mil Ball, is one of our cadets' most anticipated annual events. Mil Ball is held in conjunction with all of the JROTC units in the Anchorage Area, with each school selecting a royalty court made up of 1st-3rd year Princes and Princesses, and a 4th year Sweetheart and Cavalier. Our candidates make presentations to run for these positions, and the final court is decided on by a majority vote. Every JROTC cadet can attend and has 1 available guest pass. Additionally, an overwhelming majority of cadets say Mil Ball is way better than any other school dance! Even Prom!

While cadets receive many ribbons, awards, and recognitions in class, this awards ceremony serves to recognize the top performing cadet with higher level awards. Held in conjunction with South and Eagle River AFJROTC, there are 35+ awards given out thanks to support from around 30 local, state, and national organizations. 

Every year, our unit is inspected by an AFJROTC HQ inspector to ensure that our program is doing well and can continue to be funded. It involves all of the cadets in the unit and has various presentations and demonstrations. Cadets prepare for it all year, and depending on our performance, we can be awarded as an honorary unit, meritorious unit, or distinguished unit. 

Twice a year, our Corps does a change of command ceremony. This ceremony passes leadership over from the previous Corps Commander to the next, recognizing both cadets in front of the entire Corps. This ceremony is extremely important and memorable to the Corps and ensures that all cadets are familiar with the new Corps Commander and the importance of the position itself. 

Every year, there are 5 drill competitions, the last of which is the state championship. Our dedicated drill team always performs well in these competitions, with many trophies earned over the years, and several state championship titles! We perform in first year unarmed, first year color gaurd, varsity unarmed, varsity color gaurd, armed, and armed exhibition drill. 

Our annual PT events consist of the cadet challenge, raiders decathlon, wacko games, and dodgeball/archery tournaments. These competitions are held between the JROTC units in the Anchorage area and serve as a fun and challenging way for schools to show off the physical prowess of their cadets. While the cadet challenge and raiders decathlon tend to be more physically challenging, the wacko games are more fun and entertaining. The dodgeball and archery tournaments also tend to lean more towards the fun side of PT events.

Big Flags are a form of color guard where a team of 20+ cadets works together to present a large flag to the audience at state championship sporting event during the national anthem. West is the only JROTC program in Anchorage that performs Big Flag Color Guards!

Recruiting is essential to our program and keeping it alive! As such, we do a large variety of recruiting events throughout the year. These consist of presentations to our feeder middle schools Romig and Central, and annual events such as the freshman fair. At recruiting events, we showcase our robots, exhibition skills, sabers, etc. We also talk about all of the cool activities we participate in and opportunities that we offer. 

Every other year, 3rd and 4th year cadets are given the opportunity to go on a trip to Hawaii. This trip is classified as a CIA (Curriculum In Action) trip because cadets are able to explore military installations, ships, museums, and more with unique in-depth tours and experiences. Plus, we'll just admit it - cadets get to have lots of fun on this trip!