Even as a high school freshman, Robert Staite knew he wanted to pursue a career in the U.S. Air Force, so he joined the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps and began working toward his goal. He is now a senior at Falcon High School; and, as a cadet in the JROTC, Staite is required to complete a certain amount of community service hours, but he consistently goes above and beyond.He and his mother Julie work every year at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, collecting the transponders off the race vehicles that contain information about race times. Staite also works at Christmas Unlimited doing whatever chore or job is needed, and he works with his dad to build houses for Habitat for Humanity. Plus, he helps out with the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization.And that’s just community service work. Staite has to maintain excellent grades, which have so far kept him in the top 10 percent of his class. In addition to his regular class load at Falcon High School, Staite is enrolled in a physics class at Pikes Peak Community College.”I’m interested in math and physical earth sciences,” he said. “I love space so much. I consider myself an amateur astronomer.”He also is a member of Falcon High School’s Knowledge Bowl team and the Kittyhawk National Air Society, which is the Air Force JROTC equivalent of the National Honor Society.In his spare time, Staite is involved with programs that further enhance his goals. He attended a one-week leadership program through the Air Force Academy. As one of about 40 cadets who attended from Falcon High School, Staite participated in team-building exercises, leadership training and physical exercises.Last year, he attended the Air Force Honors Camp in Albuquerque, N.M. The camp is the academic version of the leadership program, and only 442 cadets were chosen out of roughly 100,000 worldwide. “It was a really fun experience, and I made a lot of good friends there,” Staite said.And the list of achievements at his young age keep growing.He was also chosen as the flight commander last year and took his flight to first place in a drill competition. Among 200 cadets, Staite took first place in a “drill down,” which is basically a “Simon Says” type exercise geared toward the cadets. During their JROTC awards ceremony last year, Staite was presented with the Cadet Order of the Daedalians award for “outstanding performance as a cadet in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps.”Next year, this rising star hopes to attend one of nine colleges throughout the country with strong ROTC programs. Following his college education, he plans to begin a career in the Air Force.
