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Four cadets from our unit attended the Sail Academy, Session 1, June 19-21 at Fiddler’s Cove Marina on Coronado Island, CA. They practiced in advance to have a good grasp on the basics of sailing before arriving. The three-day event was a great experience for the cadets, who learned how to sail 25-foot Catalinas, made new friends, and had a great time. 

On the first day, the cadets learned about the different parts of a sailboat and how to tie important knots. This hands-on training gave them a solid understanding for the rest of the academy. They learned survival skills in the water as well. The second day was all about getting on the water and sailing. Each crew member of every team got to test out different roles of sailing and figuring out which role they want to take on for race day. The cadets worked together to navigate the sailboats while learning teamwork and communication skills. The final day was competition day! After a morning of practice, the cadets put their skills to the test, racing against each other. One of our cadets and the other members of Crew 6 took first place, earning a special Cadet Achievement Ribbon and a medal. Another one of our cadets and their teammates on Crew 5 came in second, earning Cadet Aptitude Ribbons and a medal.

All four of our cadets did an amazing job and had an incredible time making new friends and learning new skills. Throughout the academy, the cadets were well taken care of, with plenty of food and rest. They demonstrated understanding, knowledge and dedication. They had tons of fun and can't wait to share their experiences with their peers.

On June 5th, 2025, some of our cadets stepped forward to help out at the annual Webster Elementary End of Year Celebration. Our cadets are always passionate about having the chance to participate in helping every year, and they always look forward to it. This is a good chance to get community service hours in a fun way. Being a part of this event never gets boring. 

In order for the event to function smoothly, the cadets cooperated to get things going. They had a variety of jobs to complete, from selling food to setting up games for kids. Our cadets helped keep the celebration tidy, which made a difference, reducing trash and keeping the site looking clean. Taking turns running different booths is one of the best things at the celebration. That gives our cadets communication skills while they interact with people of all ages. 

The Webster End of Year Celebration was a success, and it couldn’t have gone any better. With all the teamwork and communication skills gained during this event, we are proud of our cadets, and we can’t wait to see what the next school year has in store for the unit. We are confident they’ll continue to improve as a team. 

On Saturday, March 22, our air rifle team traveled to Santa Ana High School to participate in a biathlon shooting competition. A biathlon is a contest that combines shooting and running laps. This event aims to test who can shoot most accurately even while physically exhausted. This helps build mental toughness and discipline, which is essential if you join the service and are deployed to the fleet. It teaches you not to make excuses, even after running miles or enduring long hikes.

Our team gave their best effort in both shooting and running. Out of four schools, we placed first in shooting, second in running, and most importantly, earned first place overall. Our cadets had a great time and enjoyed their weekend with a well-earned victory. Each cadet was dropped off and arrived home safely.

On February 15, Cabrillo High School NJROTC traveled to Santa Ana to compete in their annual Sea Perch underwater competition. Cadets woke up early to prepare their engines. Once ready, they headed to Santa Ana High School. Upon arrival, the cadets immediately got to work making last-minute adjustments and ensuring the equipment was waterproof. Once everything was set, the cadets prepared for the competition. They competed in the obstacle course against several other schools. Our cadets, with hours of hard work and dedication, came home with a trophy, earning 3rd place in the coral challenge. After the award ceremony, we packed up our items and got ready to head back to Cabrillo High School. Every cadet enjoyed their time and looked forward to returning next year to compete even better than before.

On February 2, 2025, Cabrillo High School NJROTC cadets went to Bonelli park to participate in the NJROTC Area 21 Orienteering Championship. Bonelli park is located in San Dimas, California.  It’s a beautiful park filled with open areas that anyone can explore. Bonelli park is known for their large mountains with even better views once you hike to the top. NJROTC had the opportunity to use these mountains for orienteering. LAOC has provided three courses for different skill levels–beginner, JV, and varsity. Cadets who ran the courses were given time limits and a map of required checkpoints. Before heading out to the mountains, cadets got to eat some delicious food provided by their NSI Master Sergeant. After the competition and awards ceremony, we packed up and prepared for the return bus ride. Overall, our cadets stayed safe and injury-free, and they enjoyed their time in the great outdoors. Encouraging each other and forging friendships made the experience even better. 

On August 28 our cadets headed to Mothers Beach to participate in NJROTC's yearly Poseidon Water Competition. This is an event where cadets have the opportunity to participate in 10 events that are competitive and challenging. Some of these events were canoeing , tying knots blindfolded ,swimming , and many more. Cabrillo had two teams, our Company Officers team, and our Executive Officers team.Both teams brought home awards. The Company Officers team brought home second place in save your shipmate and our Executive Officer brought home first place in Leaking Bucket. Overall the morale was good and all the cadets were fed greatly. This was a super fun event and feel free to be a part of any NJROTC event.

On a chilly afternoon on December 14, 2024, Cabrillo high school NJROTC hosted their annual Christmas party. Our cadet staff were in charge of the whole event and helped everything run perfectly. The staff served food to all attending participants. The cadets enjoyed the Potluck as they watched a Kung Fu Panda II with their friends. We had some past cadet leaders visit and partake in the festivities and encouraged cadets to become more involved and have fun. A fun part of the party are the games. The Candy Cane Pass game was definitely a fan favorite because it made people interact and build teamwork and communication skills. Overall, everyone enjoyed their time with the NJROTC family as they prepared for the Winter Break and upcoming holidays with their other friends and family. 

 On a sunny morning, the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) was hosting a graduation for newly incoming Marines who have finished their difficult 13 weeks of United States Marine Corps Boot Camp. Our Naval Science Instructor, Master Sergeant retired US Marine, had reserved a spot for our cadets to witness a Marine Corps graduation that included a former Cabrillo Cadet. Approximately 30 of our cadets attended the trip to MCRD. Once the graduation was completed we congratulated our former NJROTC cadet and then we took the opportunity to visit the museum and gift shop and purchase souvenirs. This was definitely a highlight of the day because cadets got to learn about the history of the Marine Corps. After a fun educating experience, our cadets had a delicious meal from In-N-Out. Upon our bus returning to Cabrillo, we ensured all cadets had a ride home. Thank you to MCRD for having us over to visit and witness a Marine Corps graduation. 

On December 5th 2024, Cabrillo held its NJROTC Area Manager Inspection. The Personnel Inspection was conducted in the East Gym by Navy Talent Acquisition Group volunteers. After a short break the AMI ceremony commenced. Our guest of honor, U.S Navy retired Commander Garcia, came to take a look at all of our teams, cadets, staff and how we manage things in our unit. A majority of cadets were promoted for showing their commitment and dedication to the program. They all deserve it for all their hard work and time they have put to represent our unit. The Exhibition Drill teams put on a performance to show how skillful our unit can be. The final portion of the ceremony was the Pass-In-Review–a formal, time-honored ceremony. It honors the cadets' hard work and dedication and renders honors to our Area Manager and guests. When the Pass-In-Review ended, our unit had a sense of relief because they knew that the most challenging part of the Area Manager Inspection was complete. Cadets were super proud of themselves. In the end, everyone had a great time.Thank you to those who came, for putting in all that effort, we really appreciate it! Continue to do greatness! The AMI was a day filled with excitement, pride, and a sense of accomplishment that will motivate our cadets to continue striving for excellence. 

The day before Halloween, there was a Halloween party that was hosted for the cadets. They brought materials and food that were assigned to their class period. We started the party with food so they could have energy for the upcoming Halloween games. After dinner, we had a costume contest, and everyone enjoyed seeing all the different types of characters. Afterwards, it was getting dark so we made sure to start the Halloween games. The first game consisted of 3 cadets, each with a plate in front of them with whipped cream covering gummy worms. The competitors had to fish for the gummy worms with just their mouth. The second game was a game of tag. We had people dressed in scary costumes to chase after everyone. The last games were apple bobbing and wrapping the mummy. The apple bobbing had 3 cadets competing and each had one big bucket with apples that they had to bob for. Wrapping the mummy consisted of 6 cadets in teams of 2. In each of those teams, one cadet had to wrap the other person with paper ribbon. Our cadets helped clean and put everything back in order. When they finished they went home to get rest after having a “spook-tacular” time at the party. 

The month of October is the month of homecoming for Cabrillo high school. This school year we had three events revolving around homecoming. The first being the homecoming fair. This was an event where different clubs and pathways sold food related products. During this fair they also had performances. Our armed exhibition team , led by cadet Lieutenant, Gonzalez U. We had a short performance that was the intro of our performance for our Paloma valley field meet. This day was a total success!! We sold out on our product and made some profit that will go towards the unit.

  Our second event revolving around Homecoming was a homecoming football game. For this day we had two performances. One was a presentation of color by the female color guard team, led by cadet Lieutenant, Aguayo-Perez D. We also had a honor guard team led by cadet senior chief petty officer, Garica G. Both teams did present while the national anthem was played by the Cabrillo band team. Besides the two teams we also had a parking crew taking care of the people getting in and out of the parking lot making sure they are in a safe environment. They also help out people to make sure that they knew what they were doing and where to go for the football game. At half time , the honor guard did an arch sword for the homecoming royalty walking on to the stage to me there day, an even more special and more eventful day.

  For the last event , it’s actually a homecoming dance. This is a yearly celebration that brings together alumni, students, and the community to celebrate school spirit and pride. It usually takes place in  early October , during football season. They crown both a prince and princes both being seniors and students from all gardes vote for one person from both genders. This is a very special event and it takes weeks planning out so everyone who attended will enjoy their homecoming ceremony. 

On Mon, October in the Cabrilo small gym, we held our Cabrillo NJROTC Company formation. This is an event where our Senior naval science instructor along with Adjutant does promotions to the people who have participated in events. Some ribbons we gave were basic leadership ribbon, a ribbon earned to the cadets that went to mini boot camp in Santa Ana high school. Along with the ribbon cadets who attend also got a one rank promotion. Most cadets were protected into an E-2 otherwise known as cadet Seamen Apprentice. A Lot a cadets got promoted but the most noticeable was definitely Mora K. She was promoted into cadet Senior Chief Petty Officer otherwise known as an E-8. Mora K. has always been showing dedication to this program. She's one of the few to arrive early and always one of the last ones to leave. She has been motivating her platoon. She's also known as the pt commander, and the awards officer. A Lot of cadets showed up, but few got promoted. Remember if you didn't get promoted, don't take it personally .There's plenty of events to get prompted, just remember to participate.

 On September 27, our brave cadets headed to Santa Ana High School to participate in the annual basic leadership training . BLT is an event where upperclassmen teach NS1 and NS2 cadets how to become leaders and prepare them for their NJROTC careers. Over the course of three days, the cadets underwent 48 hours of training and transformation. They spent their days working on drill, perfecting their uniforms, engaging in physical training, and developing their mental strength to become responsible cadets and students.

      These cadets woke up at 5 in the morning and ran a mile. After their morning PT, they ate chow, then worked on drill and general knowledge. Second day was one of the most challenging days. Every cadet had to learn how to properly attach devices to their uniforms. On graduation day, they underwent personal inspections to assess how much they had learned and how well they performed over their time at BLT. 

     At noon, our pass and review began. Before the pass and review, a special award was announced for 6 cadets out of 125. C/SN Ivan Hernandez Ivan and C/SA Harlin Xavier earned the "GUNG HO" Award! This award, chosen by the cadets in their platoon—cadets they had barely met and gotten to know just two days prior—was given to those who were the most motivated, who kept their platoon going, demonstrated the most teamwork, and most importantly, never quit on their battle buddies.

    This event was really fun and an overall great experience for every cadet. After graduation, each cadet received a PT shirt that said "I survived mini boot camp," and they also received a laser-engraved dog tag. Each cadet earned a promotion and a Basic Leadership Training ribbon.

On Saturday, September 21, our cadets headed to Troy athletic field meet. This is an event where cadets compete in physical activities to win awards. Some events that were in this field meet were dizzy Izzy, free throw, volleyball, ¾ mile run , relay races, and many other events. For that last event we had a big game of tug-o-war where every school competed in a big tournament. Ten high schools competed and Cabrillo earned a massive total of 9 trophies! This is really major and a big accomplishment for our unit. But the most important trophy that we got was the Best Sportsmanship Trophy. This award means a lot because it really shows what type of unit we are. Thank you to all the cadets who showed up and participated in all of the amazing events that Troy had to offer for us. Hopefully you enjoyed your time at this event. Also big thanks to Troy for inviting us to this event and making everything possible! 

Cadet fun day took place on June 7th, 2024. On this day, cadets came together to have a fun afternoon. They got to have quality time together and a relaxing day before the school year ended. Our cadets got to satisfy their hunger with a pot luck. Some activities took place after the pot luck, the activities were a few games of kickball with a twist and a water balloon fight/activity. When playing kickball, while the cadets ran, they had to get through obstacles such as getting water aimed at them and dodging water balloons. After the kickball game, the water balloon activity occurred. Cadets were given a water balloon and were standing far apart facing another cadet. The way they played was by taking a step backwards after a successful catch and throwing the water balloon back to their partner. Moments after these fun activities, we cleaned up a bit and had ensured that everyone was okay. To remember this lovely day, we took a group photo and surprised our cadets at the end with a bucket of water spilled on them. All cadets were safe of course, and were glad to have spent this day together. 

May 18, 2024, as the cadets walked through the gates of Knott’s Berry Farm, they were hit with the sweet delightful scent of boysenberry pie. They could hear the sound of laughter and thrilling screams filled through the air. It was a perfect day for an adventure and nostalgia to blend perfectly. The cadets split into groups to enjoy time and make memories on rides while feeling the rush of adrenaline. 

 Time passed by quickly, the cadets came together, savored every bite of their meal, and enjoyed each other's company. After filling up with delicious food, they continued their day with going on more exciting rides. The cadets felt the rush of wind through their faces, cherishing every second of this day. When it was time to go, it could be seen on the faces of the cadets that they enjoyed their time and they were glad they could spend that day together like a family. After a fun day, they shared their goodbyes hoping for another adventure, just like this day.