Braden River students say isn't life grand?

Four Braden River High ROTC students receive $1,000 scholarships from the VFW.

By Amelia Hanks
| 10:10 a.m. May 9, 2018

Angelique Handel, Ali McDonald and Kyle Krage, seniors at Braden River High School are all attending different colleges but are happy with the camaraderie that they found with the JROTC program.

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Ali McDonald, a senior at Braden River High School, screamed for joy in the middle of her first-period class.

She just received news the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 12055-Braden River, had awarded her a $1,000 scholarship.

McDonald has been asking Command Sgt. Major Alex Figueroa of the high school's JROTC program each day if he had head anything.

She eventually received the news from another teacher, Stephanie Atkins, who sent her the text in class.

McDonald, who will attend State College of Florida, is one of four Braden River High School JROTC seniors to receive the scholarships. The others students to receive the scholarships are Evan Lynch, who is majoring in engineering at the University of Florida, Kyle Krage, an undeclared student attending West Point, and Angelique Handel, a biology major attending the University of Central Florida.

Krage and Handel both said being in the JROTC program has impacted them a great deal. Both will serve in the military after their education is complete. They will join the ROTC in college.