VALDOSTA — Receiving the Distinguished Unit Award for 2002-03 means Lowndes High School’s 81st Air Force Junior ROTC ranks as one of the best in the world.

The Air Force ROTC Headquarters at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., places the 81st in the top 25 percent of the 180 AFJROTC units in the world. The 48 Georgia units were represented well with 12 receiving the award, said Lt. Col. Dean Failor (retired), aerospace science instructor.

This was the first year this award has been given, but the 81st has received outstanding ratings for eight years in a row, he added. Distinguished Unit Award criteria included the 181’s accomplishments and its impact within the school and community, Failor said.

“Each year we try to improve over the year before and last year was no different,” Failor said. “We improved on some of our activities and added new ones. We set some goals early in the year to accomplish and the results were submitted to the board.”

Some of the unit’s accomplishments included meetings to inform the school superintendent and other Lowndes administrators about the AFJROTC program.

The 81st has always reached out to eighth-graders, who are potential cadets.

Last spring, 167 eighth-graders were informed about the program.

Plans have already been made to present the program to 750 8th graders.

The 81st also impacted its school when it was the primary organizer of the communitywide Veteran’s Day. The unit also led the effort to raise money at Christmas for the Empty Stocking Fund and Salvation Army. Cadets volunteered for the Relay for Live and the Azalea City Festival and provided color guards for numerous events.

While community service is important, Failor also values the educational impact AFROTC has on students. “The mission of junior ROTC is to build better students for America and demonstrate to the students that they can have a large impact on the community,” Failor said. “If they know how to organize, lead and manage, then they know there isn’t anything that can’t be accomplished.”

Some of these future leaders are senior cadets Col. Brittany Falkenhausen, Maj. Justin Laden, Maj. April Cleary and Lt. Col. Julie Scott. The AFJROTC Distinguished Unit Award belongs to them as well.

“I think it’s a great honor, and the unit has done a lot in the two years I’ve been here,” Laden said.

Cleary, a fourth-year cadet, credits the program’s success with the quality of the cadets involved.

“A lot of it has to do with the interaction with cadets corps,” Scott said. “We were always trying to help each other out.”

Falkenhausen credits the determination it takes to become and stay a cadet. “Stick with it,” she said. “Sometimes it’s hard — it’s going to be hard, but good things come to those who wait and work hard.”



To contact reporter Rip Prine, please call 244-3400, ext. 237.