SBHS Navy ROTC to put on the ritz

People in uniforms and ball gowns will kick up their heels
Saturday in celebration of the 228th anniversary of the U.S.
Navy.
People in uniforms and ball gowns will kick up their heels Saturday in celebration of the 228th anniversary of the U.S. Navy.

The San Benito High School Navy Junior ROTC Parent Boosters Club is putting on the Navy Ball, a formal equivalent of a high school dance, said boosters club president John Lisius.

The Navy’s anniversary is really in October, but the NJROTC program is in its first year at SBHS and it would have been hard to organize a ball by then, Lisius said.

“We chose March because it was between proms and balls,” he said.

The U.S. Navy was authorized on Oct. 13, 1775.  

There are over 200 cadets enrolled in NJROTC at SBHS, and about 90 have bought tickets to the event, Lisius said. Because it’s a formal affair, cadets will appear in their dress blues and guests must wear suits or ball gowns.

Mayor Brian Conroy and Cmdr. Annie B. Andrews, U.S. Navy Executive Officer with Navy Recruitment, District San Francisco, will be the guest speakers. NJROTC instructors Lt. Cmdr. Larry Chizek and Chief Bill Stratmann will also attend. Music will be supplied by a disk jockey.

The event will be held from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Gavilan Aviation hangar at the Hollister Airport.

Lisius found a static display of a World War II P-51 fighter aircraft to serve as a backdrop for event photos. The Navy was going to supply a static display, but had to withdraw because of the war in Iraq, Lisius said. The P-51 is being supplied by a local aviator.

Ticket sales from the Navy Ball will help fund field trips for the cadets. The boosters club and cadets have been raising money all year with a car wash, a rummage sale and folding pizza boxes for a local pizza parlor.

The club has also gratefully received numerous donations from the community, Lisius said.

The cadets will go on an all-day field trip April 26 to tour the USS Hornet, a WW II aircraft carrier, permanently in port at Alameda Point in Alameda. It served as the Prime Recovery Ship for the Apollo 11 moon mission in July 1969.

“You don’t get to see this kind of thing every day,” Lisius said.

The boosters club is always looking for members, he said. To become one or for more information on the club, call Lisius at 637-7877.