t East Community Learning Center’s annual winter sports assembly, five students in the school’s Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) program kicked the event off with a drill routine.
Front and center was 18-year-old Dillon Benefield, the JROTC commanding officer, who led the team in rhythmically spinning and tossing rifles before they marched single file off the gym floor.
Right behind them, representatives from the LeBron James Family Foundation burst through the doors and announced to the rowdy crowd that they were surprising a group at the school with brand new Nike uniforms.
“When they said Nike, I was expecting the basketball team,” Benefield said.
To Benefield’s surprise, along with others on the team, two fellow JROTC members ran out onto the gym floor sporting bright red Nike tracksuits with the school’s dragon mascot across the chest and matching Beats headphones.
The LeBron James Family Foundation (LJFF) awarded the tracksuits and headphones to all 40 members of the school’s JROTC team Friday during the assembly as part of its ongoing “Earned Not Given” uniform drop initiative.
LJFF started the initiative to encourage a positive cultural change after James and others in his inner circle learned about negative behavior and poor sportsmanship exhibited at some Akron Public School sporting events, said foundation spokesperson Stephanie Rosa. Since then, the foundation has awarded uniforms to several Akron student groups that exhibit positive traits such as sportsmanship, leadership and togetherness.
“It’s all about giving back, that’s really important to [LeBron],” said Michelle Campbell, the executive director of the foundation. “It’s pretty awesome, especially when no one knows it’s happening.”
East’s JROTC team was the first group to receive the gifts from LJFF outside the traditional realm of sports, but Campbell said the uniforms are available for any group that demonstrates leadership qualities.
Members of East’s JROTC are hard at work doing just that. They organize a blood drive with the American Red Cross three times a year at the school, and perform for veterans once a year at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center.
On top of that, Master Sgt. John MacLean, the group’s senior marine instructor, said the students arrive at 6:45 a.m. every morning for training and practices.
“They’re just good-hearted kids,” MacLean said. “They care about people.”
For members like Benefield, the work is rewarding. A senior, Benefield said the team has led him from being “that knucklehead in middle school” to a motivated, hardworking person — one who is headed to Parris Island, S.C., in July to start Marine boot camp.
In his place, he hopes to leave behind a leader who will make the team even stronger.
“Some people don’t really see our value,” Benefield said. “Everyone on this team works very hard, and I hope this motivates people to strive even harder.”
Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @Theresa_Cottom .