With the cadets standing in their respective flights and administrators excitedly watching, the Change of Command Ceremony begins. In walks Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Olivia Bell and Cadet Major Hope Flores. Soon enough, Bell passes the unit flag to Colonel Vince Jefferson, who then passed it to Flores. This signified the change in command between Bell and Flores.
The Change of Command Ceremony was also a time to acknowledge all that Bell had done for the AFJROTC program.
“I presented Cadet Bell with the Superior Performance ribbon for meritorious service rendered for the cadet corps from 25 May 2020 to 7 December 2020,” Colonel Jefferson said. “Additionally, Cadet Bell was promoted to Cadet Colonel, and Cadet Flores to Cadet Lieutenant Colonel.”
Being in charge does not mean the cadets do everything alone, it is to prepare the next person in line who will take over.
“I just tell myself that even though I was in charge at one point, I was teaching the next at the same time, and this year both her and I were learning new ways to continue on our corps traditions,” Bell said. “Hope and I had a good system with each other, I gave her just as much respect and responsibility as I was given. I made sure cadets knew who she was, and they respected her too, so changing the command also was not difficult for me to adjust to.”
The AFJROTC program is at its best when all cadets are involved.
“I want to further improve the corps and bring about more opportunities for the cadets to get involved,” Flores said.
Being in charge does not mean to do everything alone, rather it is to also help prepare the next person in line who will take over.
“I just tell myself that even though I was in charge at one point, I was teaching the next at the same time, and this year both her and I were learning new ways to continue on our corps traditions,” Bell said. “Hope and I had a good system with each other, I gave her just as much respect and responsibility as I was given. I made sure cadets knew who she was, and they respected her too, so changing the command also was not difficult for me to adjust to.”
The AFJROTC program is at its best when all cadets are involved.
“I want to further improve the corps and bring about more opportunities for the cadets to get involved,” Flores said.
Being Cadet Lieutenant Colonel is not about just having a title, it is also about truly being there for the other cadets and running the corp how it should be run.
“My biggest accomplishment when I was commander was that I truly made it a cadet run program,” Bell said. “If you ever talk to Sergeant Bell or Colonel Jefferson about their corps, they will say it is cadet run, and it was at one point, but in the previous years I had seen, it just got to the point of it not being cadet run, and I wanted that back.”
The Cadet Lieutenant Colonel works hard to have everything prepared for their corp, even without having to be reminded.
“I made sure to have weekly schedules for my staff and once they had it, we sent it out to the corps, never did Col. Jefferson and Sergeant Bell have to remind or tell us what to do for a certain day; I would make sure it was known in advance,” Bell said. “I made sure the cadets followed the chain of command. I tried so hard to make sure Col. Jefferson and Sergeant Bell knew that they could rest easy for a bit and watch their growth and discover new things and ideas.”
