Alpes-Maritimes: 85 middle school students received their Defense Cadets diploma

On Tuesday, June 30, 85 students from nine middle schools in the department received their Defense Cadet diploma in the hemicycle of the Department Building. A ceremony co-chaired by the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes, Laurent Hottiaux, and the president of the Departmental Council, Charles Ange Ginésy, which marked the culmination of a year of commitment for these 8th grade adolescents.

Implemented since 2008 as part of the “Equal Opportunities” plan of the Ministry of Defense, the program aims to promote complete civic integration of young people as well as strengthen social diversity. The program brings together middle school students with varied backgrounds around the values of the Republic.

This year, several organizations came together around the project:

Puget-Théniers (Auguste-Blanqui and Ludovic-Bréa middle schools), 24 students, supervised by the Puget-Théniers gendarmerie with the support of the PGHM;

The Cannes basin (Émile-Roux, Les Mimosas, Gérard-Philippe, Les Mûriers middle schools), 31 students, led by the deputy departmental military delegation of the Alpes-Maritimes;

Nice (Lympia, Jean-Rostand and Jean-Giono middle schools), created in September 2021, 30 students, supervised by the Nice national gendarmerie company.

In total, 300 cadets now follow this program each year, with two Wednesday afternoons per month, outside school hours.

A civic and memorial program

Representing the inspector of education Laurent Lemercier, Jean-Claude Nicolas, academic referent, praised the maturity of a program that “ requires a spirit of cohesion, a taste for effort, self-improvement, and a sense of responsibility” and which “ promotes academic success” of students.

He emphasized in particular the diversity of the program, “ absolutely essential,” and its social anchoring; before detailing the four main axes of the training followed: civic responsibility and civic pathway, resilience through physical and sports activities, duty to remember and heritage, and discovering the world of the armed forces, through exchanges with the High Mountain Gendarmerie Platoon (PGHM), or an immersion with GIS (Geographic Information System).

“ Thank you to parents for your trust, thank you to students for their commitment,” he concluded, saluting the personnel of the National Education system, the gendarmerie and all partners of the program.

“Commitment rather than individualism”

Speaking before families, teachers and civil and military authorities, Charles Ange Ginésy praised youth “ who chose commitment rather than individualism, discipline rather than ease, and honor rather than surrender.”

The president of the Department recalled that since 2018, more than 550 middle school students have completed this demanding pathway, structured around more than sixteen Wednesday training sessions.

“You have discovered that the Republic is not an empty word, that citizenship is not a status but a responsibility, that defense is not only the business of the military but of all those who believe in freedom,” he said to the young graduates, inviting them to become, each in their own way, “ lucid citizens” and “agents of cohesion” in their families and neighborhoods.

School by school, each cadet received their diploma

With speeches concluded, the actual diploma presentations took place. One by one, the nine schools in the program were called and each of the 85 cadets was called to receive their diploma from the hands of the authorities present, under the applause of their families.

The ceremony ended with a group photo bringing together the graduated cadets, in the presence of elected officials, military personnel and teachers who accompanied them throughout the year.