Cape High JROTC cadet receives national award
A Cape High JROTC cadet has received a national award recognizing military and academic excellence.
Lt. Col. Ronald Erale presented Senior Clara-Rosa Hertzog with the Legion of Valor Bronze Cross for Outstanding Achievement at the Sept. 26 Cape Henlopen school board meeting.
“It is a very rare award for a JROTC cadet,” Erale said. “She sets an excellent example for everyone in the school.”
Erale said Clara-Rosa is the fourth Cape High student to receive the award, which recognizes academic achievement, leadership and community service. Only one cadet of every 4,000 cadets nationwide may be selected to receive the award.
Clara-Rosa is battalion commander for Cape High’s JROTC program and commandant of the Color Guard. She was named platoon leader as a junior and cadet of the year as a sophomore.
“As battalion commander this year, I oversee 170 cadets,” she said. “I like to go into different classes and see how the platoon leaders are doing. It motivates me and makes me want to come to school every day.”
With the Color Guard, Clara-Rosa said she performs at National Honor Society induction ceremonies and the Harry K Foundation Ball each year, and leads the battalion during parades. Her nearly 200 service hours include volunteering for the Easter Seals and Alzheimer’s walks and the Lewes Public Library annual carnival.
Clara-Rosa said she played sports her freshman and sophomore years, but decided to become more involved with JROTC.
“There are more scholarship opportunities with JROTC, so I wanted to invest my time in activities I knew I’d be good at,” she said.
Other awards she has received include AMVETS Recognition, Department of Army Superior Cadet Decoration, and Douglas MacArthur Leadership Medal. She was the 2018 Cape High representative at the Valley Forge Freedoms Foundation and representative at the 2019 Girls State, where she was also elected governor.
A National Honor Society member, Clara-Rosa plans to major in biology and minor in Spanish at the University of Delaware before going to medical school to become a neurologist.
“My mom is from Colombia and my dad is from around here,” she said. “I know a lot of Spanish, and we have two different cultures in my household. It broadens my perspective.”
