PINETOWN — Northside High School’s Air Force ROTC program may be under new leadership, but it’s still as strong as ever.

Former Instructor Master Sgt. Charlie Woolard retired from Northside last year after more than 20 years at that post. He spent two decades building the program and earned the respect of the students and the staff.

During the 2014-2015 school year, Woolard welcomed Maj. Mark McClay on board, who said he was able to learn about Northside’s program under Woolard’s lead.

McClay and the new Senior Master Sgt. Calvin Garretson now work as a team, and while the program Woolard left behind is a strong one, the two new instructors are making small changes of their own.

For starters, McClay said he wants to incorporate rifles into the drill team and some administrative procedures have changed, but more importantly, both want to give the cadets more responsibility in running the program.

“ROTC is not a recruiting program or anything like that,” he said. “We’re just focused on creating good citizens.”

Garretson said they have already begun to implement those leadership roles, specifically with Northside’s haunted trail, at which the cadets took the organizational lead and assigned jobs to get the work completed.

“We just sat back and observed,” he said.

McClay said teachers can tell a difference between students in the ROTC program and those not in the program. He said the difference comes from the program’s emphasis on well-rounded learning, which includes lessons of leadership and discipline.

“A lot of the teachers and the faculty can tell a difference between our students and their students,” McClay said. “We teach a lot of responsibility. We place a high priority on that.”

“We expect you to, you know, be the good citizen,” Garretson added.

McClay said the ROTC program is more than just military knowledge; only a small percentage of the students actually end up enlisting in the military.

“That’s just a small part of what we do,” he said. “We also have all kinds of students in here. … Everybody’s welcome.”

“We’re mostly all about teaching leadership, teamwork and (good citizenship).”

Garretson said they even teach classes on etiquette, career readiness and resume writing.

“They get that broad experience,” he said. “We’re trying to get them set with that.”

Both instructors have lived all over the world and bring decades of military experience with them. Now they can pay it forward in a new place, inspiring Beaufort County’s youth and making a strong program even stronger.

“I think it’s been awesome so far,” McClay said. “The big challenge is talking to students (versus fellow airmen). … It’s a totally different motivation.”

“I’m privileged to take over,” Garretson said.