Hug High School
“Hawks Battalion”
Fast Facts
Enrollment: 188 Established:1968
56th Battalion Commander: C/Lieutenant Colonel Lea Shapiro
The Hug Hawks Battalions started this school year on 12 August. Our current enrollment is at 188 cadets from a student population of 2000. Our instructors are Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) William Clark, Command Sergeant Major (Ret.) Mel Hennegan, and First Sergeant (Ret.) Ed Vaars.
For the third time in four years, Hug JLAB cadets traveled to Washington D.C. for the national competition 15-20 June. Although the Hug leadership team did not win the competition, they had a great time being immersed in the outstanding content of the JLAB nationals, and the experience of a lifetime visiting our nation’s capital. Out of the 40 Army JLAB leadership teams, Hug placed 13th overall, so not too bad.
Our principal, Tristan McElhany, is on his first full year as principal after serving most of last year as the interim principal. Like every year, there are many new faces amongst the staff and faculty, but we welcome them like their predecessors with open arms. Hug will stand up multiple drone teams this year while we push for more engagement in JLAB, Raider, Drill and Rifle. Color guard is already going strong having completed 2 events thus far and several more scheduled this fall. The cadets are really putting themselves out there in the public eye.
The new Battalion command group, staff and company leaders are set to go to our annual leadership camp at Grizzly Creek Ranch 6-8 September where we engage in fun team-building activities and conduct our yearly planning for the Battalion. Cadets will write the base plan for the Continuous Improvement Project (CIP), Service-Learning Project (SLP) and the various fund raisers and company projects that support CIP and SLP.
After graduating 14 of 16 seniors last year, we are still short of our goal of 100% senior graduation, but are inching ever closer to 100% graduation rate. Almost all last year’s seniors will either enter military service, attend college, attend a trade or tech school, or have entered the work force. We look forward to seeing how well they are doing in a couple of years and hope that they stop by for a visit from time to time to share their life experiences with the cadets.
The Hug Hawks are off and running again and are excited to begin this new year! Go Hawks!
