Regimental Commander and Staff announced for 2nd Semester 2019-20; interview with former and incoming RC
It is with great pleasure that we introduce the Regimental Leadership Staff for the 2nd semester of the 2019-20 school year.
The following cadets are promoted to the position and rank:
- Regimental Commander: CCDR Shyann Laporte
- Regimental Chief of Staff: CLCDR Ashton Raymer
- Regimental Operations Officer: CCPO Chris Rogers
- Regimental Administration Officer: CLTJG Amy Xu
- Regimental Logistics Officer: CCPO Chris Le
- Regimental Ordnance Officer: CCPO George Wooten
- Regimental Supply Officer: CENS Collin Low
- Regimental Training Officer: CCPO Zachary Fisher
- Regimental Adjutant: CLT Lexi Hernandez
- Alpha Battalion Commander: CENS Melissa Diaz
- Alpha Battalion Executive Officer: CCPO Shakeem Evans
- Bravo Battalion Commander: CLT Haley Saylor
- Bravo Battalion Executive Officer: CENS Kaylin Miner
- Charlie Battalion Commander: CENS Rex Walrond
- Charlie Battalion Executive Officer: CENS Tyler Turner
An Interview with 2019-20 2nd Semester Regimental Commander Shyann Laporte ‘20
Shyann is a local student from St. Petersburg, Florida, and has attended Farragut since her sophomore year.
What does this leadership role mean to you?
It means a lot. I think it’s a good way to give back to this school that’s given me a lot of opportunities I never thought I’d have, and allowed me to grow as a person. It’s about the opportunity to influence other younger cadets and prepare them to be great leaders in the world or even just at school, whether it’s teaching them how to right face or salute, it’s just pretty honorable. It means a lot to me to give back and pay it forward.
What do you hope to accomplish this upcoming semester?
I hope to develop a legacy, so when I leave and come back, I’ll be just as proud of the things that I’ve done and see that it continues on.
How did you feel when you found out you would be the new Regimental Commander?
I was very proud of myself. I didn’t come here thinking I was going to be the regimental commander. It wasn’t my goal. I saw the battalion commander my sophomore year and thought wow, that’d be cool. And then all of those things came a little bit early, and when I got chief of staff. I prepared a lot for this position. Now that I have it, I have a few plans, so I’m very excited and very proud.
How has your time at Farragut prepared you for this leadership role?
Last year I was a battalion commander second semester, and this year I was chief of staff first semester and now I’m RC. So that’s three of the highest positions that you can get here. And then also with that, I was drill commander for two years. So I think just being in all different positions and various types of leadership roles has made me have the ability to see things from other leaders’ perspectives and also from a students’ perspectives, because that is a very short time frame from when I was just a regular cadet in sophomore year to being RC this year. So I can really remember following and then I can remember leadership and still following and then being on top. So I have a good perspective of all three.
What is your goal for college and for a career?
I have not chosen yet. I’ve applied to the University of Florida, FSU, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. I did get accepted to Embry-Riddle and so I was considering going towards an aviation path but I haven’t decided yet. I don’t have a set plan. Over the winter break, I was thinking about being a psychiatrist or some type of doctor. I really liked psychology, and I want to know the medical side of things. So that’s an idea. But I also kind of want to be a teacher, maybe after a career in psychology. I’d also like to serve, and I could come back and do something like 1stSgt Worthy or LCDR Cabantac and have a SNSI position.
How does it feel to be a female RC?
Being a female leader here in itself is pretty honorable considering that it started as a boys school. Our female corps is very powerful and strong. We’re smart cadets, we’re good at our sports, and I feel like we achieve a lot. So I feel like my achievements have kind of been achievements for all of us and I’m really proud to represent us here.
How was your experience going from being a day student to being a boarding student?
Boarding changed my perspective of everything. It made me closer to the other cadets and it kind of forced me to change how I view younger cadets, because before I had a day student’s perspective. Now I can see where they’re coming from, how they’re just so far away from home and I think I’m more comforting now towards them. Now I can go up to someone’s room and help them feel better. I think I’m a lot more helpful with that experience.
An Interview with 2019-20 1st Semester Regimental Commander Fernando Robalino ’20
Fernando is a 5-day boarder from Tarpon Springs, Florida, and has attended Farragut since the 3rd grade.
What words of advice would you give Shyann as you complete the Change of Command?
Communicate and keep your workers informed.
How did being the Regimental Commander impact you as a person and as a leader for your future?
I would say that the position itself didn’t really impact me directly my senior year. However, I came here in the third grade, this is my 10th year here and the entire time I focused on making myself into the kind of leader I would want to follow. There was a lot of leadership among the senior cadets and there were a lot of role models available to me when I was younger. I wanted to keep that trend going. And so becoming the regimental commander was my end goal in a way. But aiming for that and just aiming to have a positive impact on others helped me mold myself along the way to make myself a better cadet and a better student overall.
What was your biggest accomplishment last semester as Regimental Commander?
I’ve tried to be more flexible this year while not losing myself to efficiency or progress, understanding that sometimes you have to give a little to gain a lot. One of my biggest principles is the idea of leadership through example. I learned that my eighth grade year in Naval Science I and it was a leadership style that stuck with me the most because whenever you have a senior cadet coming down and helping underclassmen, it gets them motivated. It’s in the program and it makes them feel better about the tasks that they’re doing, whether it’s burning up PFT or moving boxes or whatever the case may be. Just having somebody who cares enough to do it alongside them and help them out really makes them feel better about themselves and about being involved, thereby improving efficiency. And also there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be willing to do something I’m asking someone else to do. So that’s why I prefer to be as hands-on as possible.
You’ve been here since the third grade. How do you think being a Farragut student from such a young age prepared you for success?
I didn’t shadow at Farragut. I found out I’d be attending this school and I didn’t really know anything about it. And so coming in first day of third grade year, walking out of our first period classroom and looking out and seeing everyone in uniform at the formation was really just cool. Because my father has always taught upper school, I would always walk over to his class after school and I ended up interacting a lot with a lot of the seniors and a lot of the high schoolers in general because of his classes and then going to my dad’s soccer practices and stuff like that. I attracted a lot of friends, everyone from freshmen to seniors, all of whom were much older than me at the time. But they became role models for me and I developed some relationships that I think helped me grow over time.
I started here when we still had a middle school. When we entered middle school we were just introduced to the NJROTC program, and being a part of something we had seen for so many years was just mind-blowing for us. But when the school went from an Elementary (PreK-5), Middle (6-8) and High School (9-12) model to two divisions: a Lower School (PreK-7) and an Upper School, we got thrust back basically into almost an elementary school-type environment in a sense that we weren’t involved with the program anymore. And for a lot of us that was really frustrating, but we were able to move on from that in order to actually keep moving forward. And for a lot of people, that setback really just fed the fire and made them much more passionate about it.
What is your goal for college and for a career?
I’ve applied to 16 schools, including UCF, FSU, RIT, Rensselaer Polytech, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, the Air Force Academy, and the Naval Academy. My ultimate academic goal is to get a PhD in a form of engineering, preferably systems engineering. And then I would like to go into predictive analytics, which has several different applications from, for example, loans for banks, going through a person’s history like that, or even medical history in order to decide treatments for patients and their benefits or their calling or the cost that could have for the patient. Since I’m interested in going to the academies, the application there would be inferring information and kind of analyzing in order to help make decisions, either combat situations or political situations.