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SmilowskiAshley Smilowski leads her JROTC Golden Knight unit on a jog around the Jackson Area Career Center. Smilowski is one of the 154 students from local area high schools that participate in the JROTC program. Lt. Colonel Lapham said that all about one of the 51 graduating seniors from last years program went into the military.
SmilowskiSmilowski stands in sunglasses as a circle forms up for the JROTC students to stretch. Smilowski has committed to the Army for eight years five of which will be active duty.
SmilowskiSmilowski grabs stuff from her locker during class breaks at Hanover-Horton High School. Smilowski splits her day between classes at Hanover-Horton and the Jackson Area Career Center where she attends her JROTC classes.
SmilowskiAshley Smilowski sits on the sidelines as her fellow JROTC students playa game of hockey during class. As part of the curriculum the JROTC program tries build teamwork and leadership into its students. These are traits the Golden Knights value highly.
SmilowskiSmilowski talks with Colonel Lapham in a conference room for notes on a recent exercise. “Since 9/11, our young people are motivated to make a difference,” Lapham said. “It makes me confident about our next generation.”
SmilowskiAshley Smilowski ties off a harness during JROTC training while wearing her engagement ring. Her fiancee, Joshua Heller, proposed to her while he was on leave from serving in Korea last December. Heller and Smilowski met while in high school and the JROTC program.
SmilowskiAshley Smilowski stands at attention during formations in the JROTC program at the Jackson Area Career Center.
SmilowskiAshley Smilowski stretches out to touch a tree during Raider training at the JROTC class in the Jackson Area Career Center.
SmilowskiAshley Smilowski, right, holds hands with her fiancee Josh Heller during the Jackson Area Career Center's open house. Heller is in the Army and stationed in Korea The time they get to spend together is limited.
SmilowskiAshley Smilowski clutches her dress as she walks into the Gene Davis and Sons banquet hall for the JROTC Military Ball. The students show up in their dress uniforms and then after the awards portion can change into other formal where for a dance.
SmilowskiSmilowski dances with her JROTC classmates during their annual banquet. The banquet, which is a requirement of the program, usually coincides with some local high school proms. The ROTC program hosts a dance after their banquet so the students can still experience a prom.
SmilowskiSmilowski looks to her friends as she is tattooed at Cloverland Tattoo Parlor in Jackson. Weeks before she was shipped to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri she got a set of dog tags tattooed on her side with the date of her grandfathers death in the chain. Smilowski said her grandfather, who served in the Navy in WWII, was influential in her decision to join the Army . He died last September.
ND_smilowskSmilowskiiAshley Smilowski, right, walks out to the Gene Davis and Sons banquet hall to say goodbye before the dance portion of the JROTC Military Ball.
SmilowskiAshley Smilowski's picture is scrolled across the screen at the Potter Center of Jackson Community College where the Hanover-Horton High School graduation was held.
SmilowskiAshley Smilowski smiles as she poses for a picture with her grandmother Rosemary Sines after her graduation from Hanover-Horton High School at the Potter Center at Jackson Community College.
SmilowskiAshley's friend Rachael Schneider, center, pouts her lip out while her friends say goodbye to Ashley at a hotel in Lansing. The next day Smilowski would be bussed to the Lansing Military Entrance Processing Station and then to the Lansing airport on her way to Fort Leonard Wood Missouri.
SmilowskiA tear rolls down Ashley's face as she hugs her friend Sarah Merrill while Darcey Ambs looks on from behind. July 31st was the last day she saw her friends and family before heading off to the Lansing MEPS center for processing.
SmilowskiAshley Smilowski, right, walks away from her friends and family after saying her final goodbyes the day before she heads to the Military Entrance Processing Station in Lansing. The next day Smilowski was bused from the hotel to MEPS and then to Lansing airport headed for Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.
SmilowskiAshley Smilowski, center, in her portrait her last year at the JROTC program.
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