GHS Tiger Battalion awards
BY BRUCE BRANUM
The Greenville Standard
Greenville High School (GHS) Tiger Battalion JROTC held their awards ceremony at Southside Baptist Church in Greenville Thursday evening, May 16.
After the Posting of the Colors, Pledge of Allegiance, and Creed recital, Tiger Battalion Senior Army Instructor Colonel Alan Hester gave remarks before dinner service.
Col. Hester noted that he would be retiring later in the summer after serving 10 years as Senior Instructor for the Greenville High School JROTC program.
Next came Toasts and then keynote speaker for the event, Lieutenant Colonel Ternisha Jones, was introduced.
The theme of her talk centered on the simple sentence, “Give thought to what is honorable in the sight of all.”
After Jones spoke, the senior JROTC cadets were recognized, followed by team recognitions, individual recognitions, National-Level awards, the announcement of 2025-2026 leaders, and Change of Command.
The outgoing command group consisted of Commander, Cadet Alex Braswell; BNXO/Chief of Staff, Cadet Cornelius Longmire; Command SGM, Cadet Dentavious Searight; S-1, Cadet Tyler Green; S-2, Cade Joyce Varner; S-3, Cadet Mason Hovis; S-4 Alaiah Johnson; S-5, Cadet Janiyah Fails; and S-6, Cadet Daven McCullough.
The incoming command groups consists of Commander, Cadet Jayden McMeans; BN XO/Chief of Staff Cadet Camryn Stinson; Command SGM, Cadet Gab’Brianna Ownes; S-1, Cadet Elijahn Johson-Perry; S-2 Cadet Kelvin Smith; S-3 Cadet John Lowe; S-4, Cadet Mitch Blackmon; S-5, Cadet Colin Mosley; and S-6, Cadet Matthew Godwin.
Community-based awards were presented to the follow cadets: Civitan Leadership Award, Cadet/CPT Tayler Green and Cadet/SFC Lincoln Seale; Sergeant Major James Seale Leadership Award, Cadet/CPL Avary Jenkins; SFC Reginald Williams Leadership Award, Cadet/1LT Maria Gonzalez; Rotary Club JROTC Leadership Award, Cadet/CPT Janiah Fails; American Legion Award for Military Excellence, Cadet/SFC Jayden Borden; American Legion Award for Academic Excellence, Cadet/CPL Adalyn Lett; Sons of the American Revolution Award, Cadet/MSG Matthew Godwin; Daughters of the American Revolution Award, Cadet/1SG Gab’Brianna Owens; Military Officer’s Association of America, Cadet/1SG Colin Mosley; Veterans of Foreign Wars Leadership Award, Cadet/Major Mason Hovis; and Order of the Purple Heart Leadership Award, Cadet/LTC Alex Braswell.
The Distinguished Cadet Award for Scholastic Excellence N-1-1 was presented to Cadet/ Major Cornelius Longmire.
Before the close of the awards event City of Greenville Mayor Jae’Ques Brown was invited to speak and present a proclamation from the city to Col. Hester.
Brown noted in the proclamation that Col. Hester had served over 30 years in the U.S. Army and an additional 10 years as senior instructor for the Greenville High School JROTC program and that his service had inspired many cadets for years to follow.
