Dr. Phillips senior earns international JROTC accolade

ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando student set herself apart from the pack, earning top honors and a global distinction of a top cadet in the world.

“I found a lot more about myself, things I could do, the things I struggle on and what I’m good at,” said Mayra Feliciano, who is now a senior at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando. “You don’t have to go to the military after it, but it teaches a lot of discipline and a lot of other things: time management, skills for the real world.”

Feliciano stumbled upon the JROTC program while attending a high school choice fair, curious about a “kid in a flight suit.”

But she spent the past three years intensely focused on the program, while sprinkling in other activities — from after-school clubs to leadership development.

She’s now a cadet colonel of the Air Force JROTC program, in charge of about 300 cadets at the school, and serves as point person for training her fellow cadets.

JROTC senior instructor Lt. Col. Rick Proctor steadily watched Feliciano grow in her knowledge and self assurance. He decided to nominate her for the Cadet of the Year award.

“It makes me come to tears thinking about it because I’m so happy for her and what she’s accomplished,” he said. “And that’s what this program is about. This is about Mayra Feliciano being herself. I could just see the dedication and the focus in her, and it helps knowing somebody’s like that, anybody’s like that.”

As if edging out the competition of 95,000 cadets from the United States to Japan was not enough, Feliciano spent the summer on a $30,000 scholarship at a local flight academy, earning her private pilot’s certificate at the age of 17.

“It was pretty cool to say I was flying over the summer, while other kids were playing video games,” she said, breaking out in a grin.

The high schooler said she’s relishing her last year at Dr. Phillips High, but she’s focused more on the future than the present. She’s dreaming of attending a school like Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, flying fighter jets in the military and helping her single mother get on better financial footing.

“I want to help them have an easy life. I don’t want them to work until old age,” Feliciano said of her mother and grandmother. “I’m going to be 18, out in the real world, paying taxes in a year or two. I gotta find a way to sustain myself and help my family out. We have a connection. It makes it easier because we are there for each other.”