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 Cadet Corps Officer Jun Lee in his uniform in 1954 |
STUDENTS WERE SOLDIERS |
 Jun Lee in 2004, wearing letter sweater with "rifle"symbol noting Cadet Corps |
There was an alternative
to frogstands and burpees
By LEN KLEMPNAUER
of TheColumnists.com
If you had trouble
believing boxing once was a required part of the physical education
curriculum at Santa Cruz (Calif.) High School in the 1950s, then
you’ll never believe this:
During that same decade, SCHS also offered the secondary school
version of ROTC - California Cadet Corps, which could be substituted
for P.E. or taken in addition to it.
On some days, Cadets wore uniforms on campus, but as one of my
1954 Cadet classmates recalled, “The uniforms did not seem
to impress the girls as much as a letterman’s sweater.”
“C” Company (“C” for “Cardinal”
- our school mascot was that red bird) would march in formation
to the nearby Santa Cruz police station to practice shooting
.22-caliber rifles in the department’s basement firing range.
The Cadets also provided the color guard for annual, on-campus
Memorial Day services honoring the school’s war dead.
They received leadership training, performed close-order drills
and learned first aid, map reading and camouflage, among other
subjects. One of the objectives was to better prepare high schoolers
for the Reserved Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program when they
went off to college.
Many Cadets also belonged to the Santa Cruz High Rifle Club,
which was affiliated with the National Rifle Association (NRA).
Shooters earned medals for marksmanship as well as block “SC”
letters--just like varsity sports players. Club matches were
held twice weekly, also at the police department’s indoor
range.
Girls could belong to the Rifle Club, which made the shooting
competition unique in that day because it was a co-educational
“sport.” Girls weren’t allowed to play on any
interscholastic boys’ teams. In fact, there were no interscholastic
girls’ sports at all.
But time marches on, even though the Cadet Corps didn’t.
There is no Cadet Corps and no Rifle Club at SCHS anymore. But
there are girls’ interscholastic sports.
What a difference between the conservative Santa Cruz of the
Fifties and today’s Santa Cruz, which ranks right up next
to Berkeley as one of the most liberal hotspots in America.
©2006 by Len Klempnauer. The author
and his editor thank Jun Lee for permission
to use his photos with this article. This column first posted
April 20, 2006.
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