DAPHNE, Ala. — Daphne High School’s Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program has been awarded the state’s highest honor for the second consecutive year, having been recognized as the No. 1 unit in Alabama by the Air Force Association.

As part of the recognition, DHS’s squad will receive a $500 check that will be used for transportation fees, according the unit’s leader, Lt. Col. David Landfair.

“In order to get the color guard to an event, we have to pay for school buses,” Landfair said, adding that the award money will cover the costs of gas and paying a bus driver so the unit can participate in future events.

“Along with the check comes a three-foot-high traveling trophy with the names of all the schools that have won the award over the years,” he said.

The distinguished training program was judged on four categories: community service, school service, academics and drills.

Landfair said the unit performed approximately 1,000 hours of community and school service this past year.

The squad has collected cell phones for American troops stationed overseas, participated in the Toys for Tots program and regularly visited area retirement homes.

“We do as many color guard events as we can,” including presenting the colors at city events like the Veterans Day memorial, school athletic events and local fundraisers, Landfair said.

As for school service, Landfair said, “We’re sometimes the school’s 911 force.” He added that Principal Don Blanchard may sometimes request — at the last minute — that 400 chairs be set up in the gym; the colonel said the squad will immediately attend to Blanchard’s request.

The unit solicited flag donations for a Flag in Every Classroom project; they organized police, fire and city support for the school’s homecoming parade; assisted in serving and setting up the city of Fairhope’s Arts and Crafts Festival; and manned registration tables during a Memorial Day function at an area American Legion facility.

The squad’s National Honor Society members meet with students before school who need tutoring in core subjects.

The cadets also help their own. The corps training program requires members to maintain a 2.75 GPA; DHS’ cadets’ overall 3.15 GPA is comfortably above that requirement.

“The cadets’ grades improved last year and this year they are providing tutoring for themselves before school to help each other improve on last year’s success,” Landfair said.

This year’s group of distinguished cadets surpassed its fundraising goal by $4,000 which help covered the traveling costs for the squad to participate in two drill and training competitions.

DHS’ unit won second place in its most recent competition held in Ocean Springs, Miss.

 “The cadets’ motto is ‘Acta Non Verba’ — which is Latin for “actions, not words,” Landfair said. “If asked, (unit members) will tell you that talking about being a good citizen is one thing; it is actually what you do that counts the most.”

“I learn how to be a better citizen for America and I learn leadership,” cadet staff Sgt. and sophomore Aaron Papa-Latoc said.

Cadet Lt. Col. and senior Jacob Irby recognizes how his participation in the training regimen can benefit his long-term goal of attending college.

“If I apply somewhere, I can say I was part of a corps unit,” Irby said, “and we put a lot of hard work into it.”

The cadets’ dedication and commitment to service has been recognized not once, but twice now as the best in the state.

Only three schools have ever won the trophy twice in a row and no school has every won the trophy three times in a row, according to Landfair.

“The challenge is to be the first to win the trophy for three years running,” Landfair said.

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