The Civil Air Patrol is accompanied by Indiana Wing Colonel Jamie Griffith to present awards to nine cadets on the Hill. These cadets are being promoted for excelling in the course works of the class, drills, performance, and leadership. 

Civil Air Patrol is a national organization with an approximate 65,000 members nationwide. Each state in the nation has their own wing; the unit at Cathedral High School, also known as Indiana 807, is run by Cathedral’s German Educator, Robert Kouril. Along with being a second lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol, Kouril has been with Cathedral’s program for almost 7 years.

Kouril said, “It’s a really, really great program! The purpose behind the whole thing is essentially public service to your community, state, and nation, but CAP specializes in cadets.”

Civil Air Patrol cadets are not only taught in the traditional setting, they are also taught outside of the Cathedral campus. Cadets have the opportunity to learn from Air Force Pilots in single engine planes of the United States Air Force and serve their community by helping out with public service projects.

The core values that Civil Air Patrol lives out daily in and out of the classroom are: Respect, Integrity, Service, and Excellence. Apart from exemplifying the core values of Civil Air Patrol, Kouril said, “The students here at Cathedral especially do a lot of leadership and character development.” 

The Award Ceremony held on March 2nd was specially for promoted cadets. Angel Garza, class of ‘26, a current cadet for Civil Air Patrol said, “I felt as if all the work I put in was being recognized. Garza was one of the nine cadets on the Hill that received a rank promotion. Students that received a promotion in ranking during the award ceremony alongside Garza were recognized for their efforts in embodying Civil Air Patrol’s core values, course works, outstanding performances, and demonstrating leadership.

Garza said, “With CAP, my experience has been all positive and the times where something doesn’t go according to plan, it still serves a purpose to show how to improve our mistakes.”

Civil Air Patrol not only helps students in the classroom, but also in real life scenarios that will lead cadets to success. Kouril said, “If you are ever interested in, for example, when we say leadership: becoming the boss or CEO of a company, so to speak, how you go about things like that with your employees, what leadership entails, how you lead, how do you lead other people. CAP most certainly gives you a head start on this.”