Man who began district’s JROTC program returns through student mentoring program.
“When I walk into the school, everyone still calls me Colonel Kelly. I tell them Dennis is just fine,” said Dennis Kelly of his frequent appearances at Tecumseh High School.
Though he was only there as a teacher for three brief years, Kelly’s lasting impact on the district is undeniable, as testaments to his contributions still march the halls each day clad in JROTC uniforms.
Kelly was the first to present the concept of AFROTC to the Tecumseh district in the mid 1980’s while he was commanding the AFROTC unit at Wright State University. Although he helped Tecumseh, and some other local districts, gain Junior ROTC programs, he had no idea he would be teaching locally, as his initial plan on retirement was to enter the banking field back in his native Nebraska.
“I had no idea I’d be teaching it,” Kelly said of his involvement with Tecumseh and JROTC.
However, after leaving his USAF career, Kelly decided to remain in the Dayton area, and soon set the foundation for a longstanding stay in Arrow Country, as he now finds his life linked to all things Tecumseh.
At Wright State, Kelly built up one of American’s top ten ROTC programs, with over 250 cadets in the group at one point. Once he decided to stay in the area and continue teaching, he applied to several new units in Ohio and Tecumseh was on that list, and Kelly said that then-assistant superintendent Howard Stahl immediately took a liking to the concept of the program and should have credit for getting the program approved to start in 1988. He then found himself on the list of interviewees for the position of program instructor. After he was selected to lead the program, he chose CMSgt. Jimmy Mullins as his assistant, and welcomed 125 fresh-faced cadets to his classrooms.
“There were students waiting in the halls to meet me before the first weeks of school to tell me how much they wanted to be in ROTC.” Some of those initial kids made full careers in the USAF and are now fully retired themselves”, Kelly quipped.
The students’ sudden interest in the school’s new program caused Kelly’s welcome from other teachers to be a bit cool at the outset, to say the least, as so many students had dropped other courses in order to enroll in ROTC.“I wasn’t a big hit at first,” Kelly cracked in his trademark deadpan style. Quickly however, the entire staff grew to greatly appreciate the new program and the positive aspects it brought Tecumseh.
He regards the JROTC program as “the golden apple” of the school, saying it is held in such high regard among local residents, as they see JROTC cadets out and about at so many community events.
“I had the best kids in the school,” Kelly said proudly, noting the wide range of students he brought together in his classroom. “I had all types of kids—I could have a developmentally-handicapped student sitting right next to the class president—they weren’t separated,” said Kelly. The arrangement brought out the best in kids from every academic level, as it gave some a look at the possibilities they might find if they worked harder and for some gifted kids, a better appreciation of their own life as well.
Kelly expressed great confidence and praise for MSgt. Antonio Ruiz and new director Major Doug Couch, who replaced Colonel Fred Schuster last year. Kelly said the great continuity of the program, with only seven total staff members over the long 28 years of the program, provided great stability to the program’s heritage and programs. He said both Couch and Ruiz are amazing role models for the current cadets.
Kelly adhered to his own standards of integrity in leaving the district just three years after he started, citing he had established the program in that time into one of the top units in the Midwest and set the stage for its future success, and had achieved his initial goals. Kelly wanted to work for himself in a less constricted environment than a teaching contract so he could have more flexibility with his own day to day activities. Kelly said however he still misses his life in the classroom and knows he made a difference for many students, and now delights in seeing students at the school who are the children of his own cadets back between 1988 and 1991. “Perhaps if I should ever “retire”, I’ll teach part time in the local community colleges and do some substitute days in local high schools” Kelly said..
He still maintains the same level of pride in Tecumseh’s ROTC program as he did when he led it, emphasizing its positive impact on the school, the district, and the community. During his time there, he said that he had no trouble maintaining 125 students in the program each year. Guidance counselors would often send him kids that needed a better structure and telling him to “turn them around.”
“I didn’t have any trouble with them at all,” he remarked, noting the program’s ability to inspire self-worth, leadership skills, and ethics in his cadets, aspects he said are still strongly instilled in current ROTC students.
Kelly said he is also proud to see so many of the traditions remain that he started nearly 30 years ago, including the annual food drive, which is set to raise $2,000 for local families this Christmas season.
“To see all of the traditions that have lasted these twenty-something years—it’s incredible,” he said.
Under Kelly’s instruction, his cadets learned a vast array of practical life skills, including meteorology basics, checkbook-balancing practices, and even the ability for compassion. Other traditions included involvement with Tecumseh’s famous drill team, helping the needy and working with local Veterans groups.
“One of the first projects we did, I took the kids to nursing homes and let them talk to people who didn’t have anybody else,” he said. Kelly said he is most proud of how his cadets are now supporting the Freedom Flights, a program established by one of his first cadets over at WSU.
His natural connection with students has essentially led to Kelly’s official return to Tecumseh High School through Family and Youth Initiatives’ Community Connectors mentoring program. The grant, obtained by FYI this summer, pairs local business people with high school students who would likely benefit from the tutelage of a trusted adult other than their parents.
Pat Banazak of FYI said that research has shown that at-risk teens benefit greatly from one-on-one mentoring, and that it is important for the students to feel that they have another person to whom to turn in rough times.
When Kelly learned that members of New Carlisle Rotary had been instrumental in supporting the new mentoring program, he said he felt compelled to join the ranks of such like-minded individuals. Kelly has worked in fraternal insurance for the Knights of Columbus for the past 24 years, and entered Rotary as an insurance agent and is delighted he joined this great group’s local civic efforts.. Though he has not been matched with a student mentee because of a gender gap between mentor and mentees, Kelly said he looks forward to meeting his first student.
He said he actually presented the idea of one-on-one student mentoring to his fellow teachers at Tecumseh nearly 30 years ago, but said the logistics at that time just wouldn’t support it. He credits current Assistant Superintendent Paula Crew for allowing this valuable program to really take off at Tecumseh. .
In reality, Kelly has never really left deep involvement in the Tecumseh district, as he and his wife Wilma have hosted 27 exchange students over the years, 10 of whom have attended Tecumseh schools for a full school year during their year in the United States. They’re currently hosting a German student from Berlin, Anton Brehmer, who Kelly said has had no trouble fitting in at all.as he loved being on the varsity soccer team and is now helping the swim team to a successful season. In the spring he’ll be on the tennis squad. He explained that their experience in hosting so many exchange students, as well as finding other host families for other kids trying to study abroad, has been overwhelming, saying: “What it’s done for my wife and me—it’s opened up a whole new world for us, and it helps keep us young”
Kelly said that Brehmer could possibly be their last student, however, as he has plans to return to his Nebraska hometown in the next couple of years, departing a long-lasting stint in Arrow Country that has spanned three decades. Kelly added, “of course I never say never and who knows, we might host yet another kid for 2016-2017 year and change our minds about me retiring at all – after all, I’ll only be 70 next year!.” Kelly added – “I always told my students that if they love their career, they’ll find it is not work at all and what they will earn will always be enough to make them happy. If they learned nothing else of value from me, that will be enough”.
