As a 15-year-old 10th-grader at Kiski Area High School, Alexei Cramer was already interested in the military.

He started combing the internet and doing personal research into programs for high school students. That’s when he discovered Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC), a federal program where high school cadets wear military uniforms and learn military history, science and discipline.

According to the Air Force JROTC website, the program aims to teach students citizenship, service and responsibility.

Cramer noticed some other nearby schools have JROTC programs. To name a few, there are programs at Valley High School in the New Kensington-Arnold School District next door, Norwin High School in North Huntingdon, Seneca Valley High School in Cranberry and Laurel Highlands in Oliver.

“I just started to wonder if Kiski could have something like that, too,” said Cramer, now 17 and in 11th grade.

On Monday, the Kiski Area School Board approved an agreement to establish an Air Force JROTC unit at the high school.

“We’re really excited for it and for the impact for our school,” Principal Chad Roland said. “This is a chance to just maximize those real-world application skills, to build the skills in leadership, integrity and time management.”

The process was set in motion when Cramer shared his research with a guidance counselor, who brought the idea to Roland. JROTC was not something the school had ever considered, Roland said, but Cramer’s interest gave the administrators “some purpose” to learn more.

Administrators visited Seneca Valley High to learn about its Army unit, did more research and began applying to the federal program.

The school also sent out a survey to students via email to gauge potential interest. Cramer said he remembers “running around all over the place” encouraging people to respond.

In the end, Roland said about 100 of the 1,260 students at the school responded positively to the idea of a JROTC program.

“That told us we have quite a bit of interest,” Roland said. “In most schools our size, they’re running units with 80-100 students involved in the program.”

The application included a site visit from an Air Force sergeant who toured Kiski Area High School to assess the available classroom, drilling and storage space.

Roland said the school scored very high on the site visit, but after the application was officially submitted in April 2018, the district heard very little news. More than a year passed.

Finally, about a week ago, Superintendent Tim Scott received word that Kiski Area had been approved to host a unit. Scott, an Army veteran, said it was a great relief to be able to offer JROTC to students.

“From the very beginning, even though I’m former military, it’s really about building citizens — building citizens of character,” Scott said. “We think it’s a really good marriage of our programs and community.”

When Scott shared the news, Roland said he had just finished a home visit with a 12th-grader who was struggling to make it to school. The student was working a job and skipping school to make money.

“It’s just interesting how things happen,” Roland recalled. “I started thinking about that young man and how things could have been different. (JROTC) is an opportunity for us to engage with students that maybe we have not been able to effectively engage with, in the past.”

Moving forward, Roland said Kiski Area High School will begin advertising JROTC in next school year’s course catalog. The school is cooperating with an Air Force representative to identify candidates for the program’s instructor and his or her assistant.

After so much waiting, Cramer had started to think the program was forgotten or lost in the shuffle of paperwork. Now, he’s ecstatic he will be able to participate in JROTC during his senior year.

“It’s cool to make a mark on something that’s actually going to affect people in a positive way,” Cramer said.

After he graduates, Cramer is planning to join the Air Force or the Navy.

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