Tom Hofer recently reached out to us about posting an item of interest on our website. This certainly qualifies. Here is Tom’s note….
I am the President of the St. Pete Area (FL) Chapter of the Military Officers Assocation of America (MOAA) and I recently had the opportunity to present four $1000 scholarships to St. Pete JROTC graduates in May of this years
In my short speech presenting the award, I noted that as a JROTC cadet, I sat in their place 59 years ago in May 1963 in St. Paul, Minnesota. I told them that I never dreamed that my journey would include 29 yrs of military service service and an additional 10 yrs with civil service. I emphasized that this could be their journey as well. I was very proud to note the seriousness and attention to detail of the cadets. (Important to note that 3 or the 4 schools that have Army JROTC programs are inner city schools and the majority of the cadets are Black or Latino.
Here is a photo of me in uniform making the presentation to the outstanding military graduate at Hollins HS – JROTC cadet, Ms. Gabriela Potrero-Luna. She will be studying engineering at the University of South Florida here in Tampa.
Regards.
Tom Hofer, CW5 USA RET
President
St Petersburg Chapter – MOAA
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