A Lenoir City High School student earned the highest rank of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps and was honored by a surprise pinning at a recent Knoxville Ice Bears game.
Cadet Keegan Keck earned the title of Cadet Chief Petty Officer of his unit in the USNSCC Smoky Mountain Anchor Division, where he has been active for four years.
The rank is the highest any Sea Cadet can achieve and typically takes four years of determination and dedication. The distinction is the equivalent of reaching Eagle in the Boy Scouts or the Gold Award in Girl Scouts.
Although Keck knew the promotion was coming, he had no idea how.
Before the Ice Bears game began, Keck was selected as the puck dropper. Once on the ice, Todd Johnson, commanding officer, Starshine Keck, Keegan’s mother, and the division’s executive officer attached golden anchors on Keegan’s new uniform.
Johnson placed the chief’s cap on Keegan’s head, symbolizing his acceptance of the promotion.
“It was a very fun experience,” Keegan said. “I’ve never seen a chief pinning like this. It was very honoring that I was the first chief of our unit to have that big of a ceremony. … When I heard about the full plan, my heart skipped a beat, and I was very confused, surprised and nervous.”
USNSCC is the Navy’s youth developmental program for 10- to 18-year-olds. Through hands-on teaching techniques, developing men and women learn a wide variety of skills like seamanship, sailing, aviation, photography, culinary and special forces training.
“I pour into (the program) with my 24 years of retired military experience and teach them through a network of resources so they get a good, hands-on learning experience,” Johnson said.
“The thing I like most, and what I take away every weekend, is the autonomy,” he said. “This is an adult-facilitated, peer-led program. They take over, they think, they solve problems, they lead by example … teenagers helping teenagers succeed. … I love getting them in front of the public, because people see the caliber of teenagers that are out there, not what the world portrays them as.”
Cadets wear uniforms and work to build a trusting, team environment centered around core values of honor, respect, commitment and service. The program is designed to help young men and women have the necessary skills, knowledge and confidence to create a future they are proud of.
“This program has meant everything,” Keegan said. “I have put my all into this program. It’s made my entire life for me, because I put my entire life towards it, essentially.”
Those around him, such as Johnson and his mother, said they have witnessed the dedication Keegan put into the program.
“This program has been pivotal as far as Keegan’s development (with) education, life experience, adventures, experiencing things and finding passion he would never have expected,” Starshine said. “Without this program, he wouldn’t be the person that he has become.”
When in middle school, Keegan decided he wanted to be a nuclear engineer after completing a Boy Scout merit badge for nuclear science. From the moment he told Starshine of his new-found dream, she was determined to figure out how to get him to that point.
Five and a half years ago, Starshine took Keegan to a Blue Angels Show in Murfreesboro. She said Keegan saw a few young cadets in uniform and told her he wanted to wear the uniforms, not knowing who they were or what they did.
Keegan spoke with the cadets, who sent mother and son to the Sea Cadet tent and connected them with the Smoky Mountain Anchor Division.
He has since overcome major shoulder surgery and battled his father’s absence.
Starshine said Keegan knows what he wants to do and nothing will stop him.
Through the program, Keegan found a passion for scuba diving and developed a level of respect for those who preceded him in the program.
“Being chief is just the tip of the iceberg with him, and he’s … happy and excited and proud and honored to have the level of achievement, but he looks at it as a foundation because he has bigger goals on the horizon,” Starshine said. “He sees it as a stepping stone as he goes further into the military.”
As a single mother, Starshine said she wanted a better life for her son and has been determined to not let anything get in the way.
“I want to see him succeed,” she said. “I want to see him be all that he can be, and be the best that he can be. As a single parent, it puts a lot on you, but as a single parent, ultimately his success is all on me. If I were to stop, he wouldn’t be able to thrive.”
With 24 years of active-duty service, Johnson said he loves training teenagers in the same manner he taught active-duty men and women.
“We have been through a lot together, so the pride of seeing him achieve being a chief is just so exciting, and to have him reach this before he graduates and to be a chief, it’s exciting,” Johnson said.
For more information about the program, visit online at smadseacadets.org/trainings.html.
