It is the first day of school and the returning JROTC members wait in anticipation for their JROTC class. This year there is a new instructor waiting for them to enter the classroom, Sergeant Major Kevin Artis.

Retiring from thirty years of military service, Sergeant Major Artis has taken the opportunity to teach at the high school alongside a friend from the Army.

“At one time I was a drill instructor so I do have some classroom experience, but… this is my first year teaching at the high school level,” said Sergeant Major Artis.

Using his skills from his drill instructing experiences he hopes to help students learn discipline, leadership skills, and how to be an overall better citizen.

“My goal for my students is to be well disciplined, to exercise the leadership skills we instill in them, and also to make them better citizens,” Sergeant Major Artis said.

Working with students has always been a dream of Sergeant Major Artis’s, even before he was introduced to teaching.

“What I wanted to do before I found out about teaching was that I wanted to work in a Juvenile Justice System,” Sergeant Major Artis said. “I wanted to be a CEO or detention manager for troubled youth.”

But now he has turned to the life of teaching doing what he hopes will help teens before they turn to a life of crime.

“Once I learned about teaching I figured that I can get to them before they get to that point and maybe we can prevent them from going in that direction,” Sergeant Major Artis said.