NH Junior ROTC: Major Cenney and the Fall Mountain Regional High School Program are making a difference. Click here.

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Major Cenney and the Fall Mountain Program

Whitefield isn't the only honors program in the state: located in Langdon, New Hampshire, Fall Mountain Regional High School annually sees about fifty students participating in their Army JROTC program, which has been ranked an Honor Unit with Distinction for many years.

Major John Cenney has been in charge of the Fall Mountain program since its beginning-nearly seventeen years ago ("Since June 30, 1996," he recalls to the day). Prior to signing on as a JROTC director, Major Cenney served for eighteen years as an Army Special Forces officer.

Plenty to Offer Students

Much like LTC Gearhart in Whitefield, Cenney has nothing but good things to say about JROTC:

NH JROTC: There's a lot of physical fitness training, usually once a week.

NH JROTC: There's a lot of physical fitness training, usually once a week.

"It's really positive, a great experience. JROTC is an opportunity for students to challenge themselves by choice."

Like their peers at White Mountains, cadets in the Fall Mountain JROTC program can expect to learn values that will help them be productive in their community:

"We have class Monday through Friday, five days a week. It very neatly fits into the school's core values. All our courses support that. Our mission statement is to help young people to become better citizens. We have a highway clean-up, volunteer at a food shelf, parades on Veterans' Day and Memorial Day, and funeral details for veterans. We help students motivate themselves to see the importance of community service."

Besides community involvement, students are also encouraged to better themselves on a day-to-day basis:

"There's a lot of physical fitness training, usually once a week," says Cenney. He stresses that the program's aim is for its participants to adopt a "healthy body, healthy mind" mentality. "It's not from a military standpoint."

The unit also boasts a number of extracurricular activities that interested cadets can participate in, including teams for Raider Challenge, Drill, and Marksmanship that allow members to earn Varsity letters and a summer camp for what Cenney describes as "adventure training."

Press and Praise

Fall Mountain's JROTC program has earned its share of notice both inside and beyond New Hampshire.

A photojournalist from the Netherlands named Ellen Kok recently embedded herself in the local community, following the unit for three years in order to explore how the JROTC program impacted its participants' lives, academic and otherwise. Kok has since released a book, Cadets, which documents her experiences with Fall Mountain.

Additionally, last February, the program's cadets were picked to represent New Hampshire at the seventieth anniversary of the invasion of Normandy and will be traveling to France this summer to participate.

Most importantly, though, the local community has taken quite a shine to the program:
"When money's tight we sometimes have to work with reduced funding, but there's been no negative impact. A big part is that the community has embraced it. Their support is overwhelming."

Completing the Mission

This community support is inevitably the result of the program's commitment to the students who participate.

The Major says he has never had to drop a student 'for cause.'

"Our policy is to help motivate students. We want to help them to be successful, not to fail."

He notes the positive influence JROTC has on its cadets, regardless of what their outside interests may be:

"They come from all walks of life. Many are involved in other activities-athletics, National Honor Society, Drama Club," Cenney says, "(After high school) some enter the work force, many go on to college. A very small percentage-about one to two percent-go on to the military. They become successful members of the community."

JROTC stresses community service.