Piedra Vista High School
Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
5700 College Blvd.
Farmington, New Mexico 87402
Dear Sir or Ma’am,
My name is First Sergeant (Retired) J. Shannon Lewis. My partner, Lieutenant Colonel
(Retired) David Naber and I both began as JROTC instructors in the 2006-2007 school year for
Piedra Vista High School. We are kindly asking for your consideration to become a Panther
JROTC Sponsor.
JROTC is a joint school-U.S. Army funded program with the mission statement of: “To
motivate young people to be better citizens”. JROTC is not a recruiting arm for the U.S. Armed
Forces. However for those that are, JROTC offers them a fast track to ROTC scholarships,
academy appointments and promotions. Through a fully developed curriculum and an abundant
opportunity to participate in fun and exciting extra-curricular activities we focus on developing
cadet’s character, self-discipline, leadership, communication, physical fitness and personal
finance skills. We strive to instill these attributes as well as Army Values, which are Loyalty,
Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage (LDRSHIP) so that they
may become successful and productive members of society.
In addition to instilling values, leadership and citizenship skills, we also coach
competitive teams which compete at the local, state and national level each year in
marksmanship, drill, and physical fitness. Last school year, PVHS JROTC represented
Farmington well at the state drill and marksmanship competition in Albuquerque by placing 2nd
(overall) in New Mexico. In fact, the PVHS JROTC Marksmanship team is back-to-back state
champions in Sporter class air rifle marksmanship. Additionally, last year was our first year
competing in Precision class marksmanship and earned 1st place as well. Last year our sporter
class marksmanship team was ranked 18th nationally and our precision class was nationally
ranked 6th. Our unarmed drill team and armed drill team placed 2nd and 3rd respectively. Our
female physical fitness team and male physical fitness team placed 2nd and 3rd respectively and
our female color guard team placed 2nd.
Each year our extracurricular activities (all at no cost to cadets) include rappelling,
skiing, an annual military ball, military history field trips, summer drill and air rifle
marksmanship camps. PVHS JROTC contributes regularly to our community with color guard
support, community service and various other community activities. All our competitions are
funded by our fundraising efforts throughout the year. Unfortunately, our budget simply does not
support our maximum potential to compete at every competitive invitation received.
We thank you for your valuable time in reading this letter and appreciate your
consideration of a contribution. If you have any questions about our program or would like to
receive a briefing on program specifics feel free to call us at 599-8880 extension 3220 or 3235.
Sincerely,
J. SHANNON LEWIS
First Sergeant (Ret), US Army
Army Instructor
DAVID V. NABER
LTC (Ret), US Army
Senior Army Instructor