On March 28, senior Kathryn Huard was recognized as Lennard High School’s 2023-24 Cadet of the Year. Huard received this award during Lennard’s annual JROTC Awards Ceremony held at 5 p.m. in the school’s auditorium.
The Cadet of the Year Award recognizes one senior cadet who has demonstrated excellence in Lennard’s JROTC program. In addition to maintaining a minimum 3.5 GPA and remaining in good standing with the Longhorn Battalion and JROTC cadre, Huard held a series of leadership positions over the course of her two years in the program.
Enrolling in Lennard’s JROTC program as a junior, Huard quickly became involved in the raider, drill and color guard teams. Within her first year of the program, Huard was promoted from sergeant to first sergeant, which oversees an entire class company. During this same year, Huard also became a Drill Team Commander, which oversees all marching, color guard and related activities, and she was also a leader for some of the mixed team raider events.
By her senior year, Huard was positioned as the female co-commander of the raider team and the battalion commander. As acting battalion commander, Huard is responsible for coordinating events and ensuring the Longhorn cadets continue to meet the battalion’s goals.
“I feel like all the positions really have a significant role, and I did enjoy being a part of all of them,” said Huard, “but I would have to say that being the battalion commander this year would definitely be my favorite just because I am responsible for a little bit of everything, so I feel like I can help out in all aspects, which is really important to me because I do want our program to be successful.”
Recently receiving an advanced scholarship to the University of Tampa’s ROTC program, Huard plans to pursue Army ROTC while majoring in international studies and minoring in Arabic. After college, she intends to be commissioned into the army as an intelligence officer.
As she looks forward to the next stage of her life, Huard remains grateful for the time spent and experience gained as a member of the Longhorn Battalion.
“In our JROTC program, we focus a lot on leadership and working as a team, and I feel that it’s really made me comfortable meeting others and just being prepared for that environment when I go into college and everything like that,” said Huard. “Our instructors here are amazing, you know. They really make sure we’re prepared, and they really just build you up and make sure you have that confidence and the skills that you’ll need for your career, no matter what it is.”
