»PHOTOS: Class of 2020 top grads
Ortiz leaves Hamilton with a resume’ that includes being a Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps commander, Homecoming Court electee, black belt karate master and Daughters of the American Revolution award winner.
“She is absolutely one of the hardest working people you will ever want to be around,” NJROTC instructor Capt. Jim Allison said. “She brings a large amount of humility and just being an overall really nice, good person. When you put those three things together, coupled with putting others before yourself, those are the cornerstones of being a leader and everything she did. She was an overachiever. She participated in everything, volunteered in everything and she was carrying a full load at school and working.”
NJROTC ended up leaving a greater mark on her life than she ever anticipated. Ortiz joined the program in ninth grade after hearing her older cousin talk about his experience with it, but she ended up deciding it wasn’t for her after the first semester.
Two weeks away from it, she realized she missed it and re-joined. By senior year, she was selected as the second semester commander for both the Air Rifle and Armed Exhibition teams.
“I was very surprised how much I missed it,” said Ortiz, who even wore her uniform to the Homecoming football game in the fall when the court was recognized. “Now I can’t imagine not being a part of it.”
Ortiz always thought she would be a dog warden up until ninth grade. She even visited Sheriff Richard Jones at the jail in sixth grade to find out more about how she could get a job there one day. Now, plans have changed. She will enlist in the Armed Forces, but is still deciding between Army Reserve and National Guard. After Ortiz finishes boot camp, she will report one weekend every month while pursuing a secondary education degree at Miami Hamilton to become a high school math teacher.
The 17-year-old proved to be a natural fit for the NJROTC squad. She finished first of 77 cadets at the NJROTC Area 3 (Midwest region) Leadership Academy/Sail Training (LAST) conducted at the Naval Training Center in Illinois last June. The cadets did a physical test as well as tests in drill, sailing and leadership, as well as having uniform and room inspections.
Allison said it was no surprise Ortiz did well in all those categories because she is “impeccable” and always does her best to make things right. She also has been a strong leader for Hamilton’s NJROTC squads.
The Big Blue qualified this year for drills nationals in Daytona Beach, Fla., for the first time since Ortiz was a freshman and another academic national tournament in San Diego, Calif.; however, both events were canceled because of COVID-19.
“She does well starting it off and teaching others,” Allison said. “She’s never been afraid to step out and do things and never afraid to let others step out and do things. She’s overcome tremendous amounts because of her incredible work ethics.”
Ortiz, who grew up living in a home with her mom and grandparents, also works about 20 hours a week at Walmart, participates in karate – where she earned her black belt in October – and kept up with school work while also getting up for 6 a.m. drill practices every day.
According to Allison’s records, Ortiz also did 270 hours of community service through the ROTC program.
“Through high school it’s been very rough,” Ortiz said. “It was hard to manage my time, and I was tired a lot, but I was able to keep up with it and maintained fairly good grades throughout high school. It was all worth it. I just wish we could have ended it on a better note.”
Although senior year ended with remote learning and event cancelations, her grandmother, Jonetta Cornett, said Ortiz has a lot of great memories to take with her. Karate and NJROTC taught her to be even more disciplined in all things, and she excelled, despite balancing everything with work and school.
“She knows what she wants and goes after it,” Cornett said. “She’s got a good heart, and she’s a good girl. She works hard and gets good grades. She’s a lot busier than I was, and I’m a child of the 50s, 60s and 70s. I’m very proud of her and all her accomplishments.”
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