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Even if the total number nominations from ROTC units is comparatively small, they do produce some from high school units, and from Air Force JROTC Unit of Distinctions at that. I know this firsthand as a young man from an adjoining county to us received a nomination to WP from a high school Air Force unit. If nothing else, it gives more "wiggle room" for admissions to give more students an opportunity for candidacy. That said, not all units qualify. Our unit just gained this status this spring, a year later than our son entered the academy. You will need to check with your high school aerospace instructor to know for sure.
While being a member of a JROTC unit in high school is not a necessity, it certainly will not hurt the application process and from our experience will likely enhance it because of the leadership opportunities it presents. Not only helpful for admissions, but the military drill and ceremonies will become second nature. Our son found this a real advantage on R-Day as he was always waiting for a cadre escort to take him to the next station when his Beast company was learning drill. (We were surprised to find out that R-Day is "organized chaos" -the company does not stay together the entire day - which probably explained why some new cadets did not look like they had a clue how to march during the R-Day parade and Oath Ceremony!). He told us later that he would have had a lot of unwanted "extra attention" that day w/o his JROTC drill experience.
Good luck! Please keep us posted.
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