Golden Apple Award: Major John Brown
This week’s Golden Apple Award goes to a teacher in West Alabama. This Wilcox Central High School educator is not only a teacher, he’s an air force veteran and JROTC trainer. His students say he wears many different hats, all to help teach them valuable lessons.
Major John Brown, also known by his nickname “Jab,” spent twenty years as an active duty airman. When he retired, he wanted to continue to give back to his country.
That’s when a friend came to him when an idea.
“He just said, ‘Jab-you need to go and teach ROTC, and I know just the place for you to go. He said coming down here would mean a lot to me and mean a lot to them, and we’d be a good fit -and he was right,'” said Brown.
Brown has been mentoring Camden cadets for eights years. Under his leadership, the Wilcox Central High School’s JROTC has been named a distinguished unit three years in a row. The cadets have completed thousands of hours of community service, with many going on to college on scholarships. One former student of Brown’s is enrolled at the Air Force Academy.
Wilcox County has been cited as one of the nation’s lowest-income areas. Nearly half of children fall below the poverty line. Still, with help from Brown, community members say the JROTC has become a shining example of the good a small group can do.
“Major, he’s like a father figure to me. I can go to him and talk to him about anything. He’s just there for us,” said Cadet Lakendrick Pettway.
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