The Perth Amboy High School Naval Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (NJROTC) was first adopted by the Perth Amboy Board of Education in 1979. The first full year of completion was in 1980. The adoption of the program was strongly spearheaded by then President of 5the Board of Education, Mr. Edward Hmieleski, a Veteran of Foreign Wars. Mr. Frank Sinatra, Schools superintendent at the time, was also a strong force.

 

 

The first Naval Science Instructor was Commander Raymond Paul with Commander Donald Conquest as the Associate Naval Science Instructor. In 1990, Commander Conquest retired and Lieutenant Douglas Bowker became the new Associate Naval Science Instructor. In 2000, Commander Paul retired after twenty years of service to the cadets of Perth Amboy, where Lieutenant Bowker became the new Naval Science Instructor and Perth Amboy High School warmly welcomed Gunnery Sergeant Peter Ramirez as the new Associate Naval Science Instructor, the first Marine to be an Instructor in the Perth Amboy ROTC program.  Today the Senior Naval Science Instructor is Captain Karen J. Hard, U.S. Navy Reserved Retired.

 

 

The NJROTC program was established by Public Law in 1964 and may be found in Title 10, U.S Code, Chapter 102. The program is conducted at accredited secondary schools throughout the nation, by instructors who retired Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard officers and established personnel.  The NJROTC curriculum emphasizes citizenship and leadership development, as well as our maritime heritage, the significance of sea power, and naval topics such as the fundamentals of naval operations, seamanship, navigation and meteorology. Classroom instruction is augmented throughout the year by community service activities, drill competition, field meets, flights, visits to naval activities, marksmanship training, and other military training. Uniforms, textbooks, training aids, travel allowance, and a substantial portion of instructors’ salaries are provided by the Navy.

 

 

Since 1979, the Perth Amboy NJROTC unit has actively participated in various school and community activities. The unit has been extremely successful in several competitions throughout the years, and has even been recognized as “New Jersey State Champions” of drill competition, where the unit continued to perform victoriously in the Area IV Semi-National in New York and Pennsylvania. Their program mission is to instill in students in United States secondary educational institutions the values of citizenship, service to the United States, personal responsibility and a sense of accomplishment.