Sgt 1st Class Retired Grady Tinker is the instructor for the Navy National Defense Cadet Corps (NNDCC) at Livingston High School. When asked about the program, Tinker shares, “The program is based on the JROTC military, but the concepts we look at are deeper than that. I use military concepts but it’s all about leadership, planning, performing, commitment, responsibility, and respect so that all students at Livingston High school can gain something from this course. Some students will take the military path but some will not, it’s not for everybody. I teach the military concepts but students will go on to college, work, and learning how to work with people and the skills can be used everywhere. I try to unlock what students are good at and what their potential is and then we put a plan together.”
Sgt. Tinker continues, “This year we have great leaders as we have had every year. This is my fourth year at LHS. When I started it was known as Military Science and now we’ve picked up the Navy endorsement. Our program is labeled as NNDCC which is still an NJROTC we just don’t meet the requirement of having a minimum number of a hundred students or more. NNDCC has a requirement of fifty or more cadets for us to use their curriculum. The difference in our program is that our students get hands-on leadership, they are in charge of this program and I oversee it. It’s cadet-led and instructor assisted. I want students to go out there and make decisions, make mistakes, then they can learn from them and grow from the experience and I can redirect them and show where they could have improved on whatever decision process they were using. They are learning that their actions will cause a reaction and they are also learning how to work with other personalities. Conflict in a workplace is common and they are learning how to operate and work with people that don’t mesh with your same ideology and that’s what we’re building and teaching in this program.”
Ilysa Zeringue is a senior at Livingston High School and joined the Army National Guard as a 17-year-old. “I joined last year, my junior year, in February. I went to basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for three months last summer. I was just ranked up to Private 2nd Class, my job, my mos (military occupational skill) is a combat engineer at 12 bravo. My goal is to attend either Sam Houston State University or Stephen F. Austin State University and join the ROTC. After college, I plan to go into the active Army as an officer. With the National Guard and Reserves, you work one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer. During drill, we perform basic movements of how to work as a team, learning first aid, how to hold our weapons properly, how to call into a medivac, and workout to obtain our physical fitness.” When asked why she chose this path, Zeringue said, “I knew that I wouldn’t be able to pay for college on my own and they will take care of it for me. I also like the respect you receive from being a member of the military. I plan to start college in the fall after graduation at LHS and will major in history and become a history teacher. In the NNDCC I am the director over training, I look over all of our teams when we are going to meets. I also help the color guard, armed drills, unarmed drills and I help supervise on a daily basis during class times. I’m trying out for the basketball team this year, I’ve played basketball since I was eight years old and it’s close to my heart and would love to play for Livingston.”
Evelyn Solano is a senior at LHS, with a current GPA of 4.57. “After graduation, I’m planning to attend Texas A&M or Baylor University and will go into the AROTC which is the Air Force division, and major in Aerospace Engineering. I’ve been a part of NNDCC at LHS for four years. I hold the position of the director of admin. I make sure everyone has the certificates and awards and make sure they are receiving the credit they deserve. My message to incoming freshmen or anyone joining the ROTC program, I recommend that you never give up. It will be hard, it will be stressful. especially the longer you stay in the leadership roles you take on and it will be hard but never say can’t.” Solano is also involved in other extracurricular activities at LHS including choir, UIL academics, and competes in prose. “After school, I have a part-time job and work around 36 to 37 hours a week and maintain all A’s in my classes.”
Cheyenne Prickett is the Battalion Commander and a junior at LHS. “I’m planning to enlist at the end of this school year and go to basic training over the Summer, then I will come back to finish my senior year, go to AIT, and then go to college.” As a Battalion Commander, she plans and leads the battalion as a whole program. She is also involved in other extracurricular activities. “I am part of the robotics team and Art II. I plan to major in Psychology. I have had many family members in the military and my closest is my grandfather who was Military Police in the Marines.”
Julian Simmons is a senior at LHS and plans to go into the Marine Corps after graduation. “I want to enter the Marine Corps because it’s a challenge and will help me better myself. In the NNDCC program, I am an S2 and in charge of the weather reports and equipment. I like the program because it helps you become a leader and have better responsibilities and it will help me when I join the military.” Simmons is in advanced culinary and this is the fourth year for him to be in the program. “My plan is to be a sniper and work my way up to the Special Forces. It caught my eye because it’s a challenge and what I need to push myself to get up to that level.”
Sgt. Tinker talks about the natural leaders in the NNDCC, “Solano has been moved to the director of admin because she has already excelled in all positions on paper. Zeringue graduated from basic training over the summer. She is director of training so a position had to be created for her. She is active duty and not JROTC because she is contracted with the Army so we don’t put her in a Navy uniform, we allow her to wear her Army uniform. We have some freshmen that are running circles around second and third-year students. In our program, we don’t factor in if you are a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior. We look at the student and what they can bring to the program or if they have the leadership qualities to lead in a position. There is no system that says you have to be junior or senior to be in a certain position. The students who bring the best effort forward are the ones who are placed in leadership positions.”
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