by Eve Jamilkowski

Air Force JROTC is hosting a family-friendly holiday carnival Sunday starting at 1 p.m. at Bellbrook High School. The inside of the school will be packed with activities for families with young children, not to mention raffles and lots of homemade baked goods to take home. 

Organized by corps member senior Cadet Carmen Roland, the carnival will be the first-ever Holiday Carnival hosted at BHS. It will be held inside both the school’s gymnasiums as well as the cafeteria and is tailored primarily for elementary-aged children and younger.

“We’re going to have crafts and some games, coloring, and music and hopefully, an obstacle course where they can do pushups and similar things, to get them started for their Air Force fitness test early!” Lieutenant Colonel Christine Gangaware said. She is in charge of JROTC and is also the main overseer of the carnival.

Colonel Gangaware is hoping the JROTC cadet volunteers will take away something from this community service opportunity. “A lot of the cadets will be running specific stations so I’m hoping they’ll learn some leadership skills, and also how to work with kids they don’t know, and learning patience,” Colonel Gangaware said. “My end goal is for everyone to have a good time.”

The carnival is doubling as not only a fun event for parents to enjoy some local holiday celebrations with their children, but also a fundraiser for JROTC as well as the local community. “I hope we can make this a tradition, and we get a good turnout Sunday and that the parents and children like it,” Colonel Gangaware said. “This year we’re keeping things simple and small, but who knows, maybe we can expand in the future.”