Lely ROTC Instructor Retires, Leaving Legacy of Success

When Chief Michael Harp looks back on his 13-year career as Senior Army JROTC Instructor at Lely High School he will surely have a warm feeling inside. The seeds he has sown are blossoming all over the world, many as officers in the United States Army.

"I am retiring at the end of the month,” Chief Harp said. “My focus has been life after Lely. It’s been a good ride.”

The successful cadets he produces are a big part of Chief Harp’s legacy. He has developed a pipeline of cadets who have matriculated at the Georgia Military College in the charming town of Milledgeville, Georgia. He has led his Lely cadets to almost $25 million in scholarships during his career at the East Naples School. He has guided each of them toward a rewarding life after Lely, indeed.

Georgia Military College is one of four colleges in the United States that Congress has authorized to offer a U.S. Army ROTC Early Commissioning Program (ECP) that commissions Second Lieutenants through an intensive two-year course of study. They pride themselves as a fast track to leadership in the U.S. Army.

Chief Harp recently returned from the graduation and commissioning ceremonies for six of his cadets from Lely High School on Friday, May 27.

"To have six kids commissioned at one time,” Chief Harp said, "out of one program, at one college, nobody’s ever heard of it. Those kids all came through our ROTC program. They all got scholarships to go to the Georgia Military Academy. It’s an advanced school where you can get commissioned in two years, not four years. You get commissioned after your associate degree. Then they go into the U.S. Army Reserves or U.S. Army National Guard for two years. They get their tuition paid for anywhere they go. They get $10,000 a year to live on. So, everybody bumps up. It’s pretty much a four-year scholarship. After that some may stay in the Guard, some may go active duty.”

Chief Harp is proud of what his cadets have accomplished over his career at Lely. As he reflects back, he realizes that they gave as much to him as he gave to them. He came to Lely High after a distinguished 27-plus year career in the U.S. Army. He was determined to give his Lely cadets something he didn’t receive as a high school student.

"I was not a high school graduate when I joined the Army,” Chief Harp reflects. "I honestly had zero mentorship. So, when I retired after 27 years in the Army, my intention was to try to change lives. I felt I did that. My children wanted me to retire. We sat at Christmastime and I decided it was time to put time over money. I’m 59. Today was bittersweet.”

"I wrote a goodbye letter to my students - I do that every year,” Chief Harp said. "It’s always heartfelt. It simply said, ‘You kind of gave me my life back, in some sense. A lot of my friends came back from war. I did multiple tours. They’re on serious drugs for PTSD, some are alcoholics, some are on drugs. I was more concerned about the kids’ life after high school. I put my entire focus on that. I get calls on Saturdays, Sundays, evenings. I don’t consider myself a teacher. I don’t think I’m smart enough for that - that’s what I tell everybody. But the truth of the matter is, with me it was about changing lives.”

Conversations with four of his proteges leaves no room for doubt that Chief Harp changed lives in a profoundly positive way. All four spoke clearly and confidently. Mature beyond their years.

"If I hadn’t met him,” said Haidy Betancourt, "I don’t think I’d have the clarity I have now about the person I am and who I want to be. And the goals that I’ve been setting for myself. He taught me to always have a five-year plan and always have it planned out so you know where you’re going in life and what goal you want to reach. Without him I wouldn’t know what’s next in my path.”

Betancourt, 19, recently finished her first year at Georgia Military College.

“Chief has been the best inspiration and role model I’ve ever had,” Betancourt continued. "He’s the person that showed me a path that I really wasn’t willing to take at the beginning of my freshman year of high school. Because I didn’t want to go into the military. I have a family who are immigrants from Cuba. I did not want them to spend a single dime for my college. He was the one to open the path for me to get this scholarship so my parents didn’t have to pay anything. It’s an amazing opportunity. Getting to meet him was a blessing. He was a really big role model. I’ve learned so much about the military. And looking at him, now that I know these things, I realize, ‘Wow, he’s an amazing person.' It’s crazy to be around him now that I know how impactful he really is.”

Adriana Garcia is on her way to becoming a U.S. Army pilot. She, too, holds Chief Harp in high esteem.

"Right now, I’m working toward being a pilot in the United States Army,” said Adriana Garcia, who was a 2021 of GMC. "I remember they came down to Manatee Middle School. I remember them talking to us about what ROTC was. I didn’t get to stay for the whole presentation, but I was very impressed with the way they looked and how they talked and interacted with the group. So, I went ahead and signed up. I remember the first day of class with Master Sergeant Santiago, he was explaining things to us, giving us our notebooks and telling us what to expect. He also showed us the structure of our chain of command, which is our leadership.”

 "I remember Chief having a chair up in front of the room our junior year,” Garcia continued. “He would have us sit there and he’d ask us who we were. I think that’s such a hard question to ask to a teenager in high school. Because you really don’t think about it. I remember we wrote an essay about it. Junior year they introduce us to college. We go to a low-income school. A lot of our parents are not able to pay for our college tuition. Chief knows that. During our sophomore and junior years, he helped us fill out our FAFSA.”

FAFSA stands for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. FAFSA itself isn’t the money or loans you receive. Instead, it’s a form that assesses your financial need and supplies you with funding options accordingly. It is a program administered by the Department of Education.

 “A lot of people don't know how to fill out our FAFSA,” Garcia said, "because we all come from families who just came to the United States, who are immigrants, whose parents didn’t go to college, or are first generation students. I remember he told us to bring in our parents’ paycheck information. And we just spent a whole class doing that. I remember him teaching us, ‘This goes here, this goes there.’  That was one of the most important things he did junior year. Then we would go on to teach that to the younger students. It was really awesome.”

“I just graduated on May 27 and got my commission,” said Franco Pero. "I first met Chief my sophomore year. I was in the program my first year, but I was more with Master Sergeant Santiago, mainly because of the way their system works - which works really well. Master Sergeant kind of constructs us to the discipline. And when we finally have gotten it, we go to Chief and he molds us, teaching us stuff about life. His program helps so much. He did a lot of the stuff that kids complain are missing in high school. For example, a lot of kids don’t know how to do their taxes. Chief actually taught me how to do my taxes. For the past three to four years, I’ve done my own taxes. He taught us how to save and how to invest. He teaches you stuff about life. He prepares you for life. He helps us get scholarships. He especially helps us with ROTC scholarships. He’s helped a couple of kids get into military academies. I’m one of the cadets who went to Georgia Military College. He basically explained to us that it’s only two years, and it will be challenging, but when you come out of it, you’re going to be a whole new person, and you’re going to understand a lot more.”

"My mom was an immigrant mother from Argentina,” Pero continues. "She migrated from Argentina for me, so I could have a better life. She got her citizenship when I was a junior in high school. She always told me she wanted me to go to college. I was like, ‘It’s not that easy.’ But Chief made that dream come true and now my mom’s so proud of me. I just finished my first two years. I got my commission. She pinned me. And my mom doesn’t have to pay anything and neither do I. At GMC instead of having to pay, I was getting paid. I was getting paid about $420 a month because of the Army and the National Guard. Not only has he affected me, he’s affected my mother. She’s so proud of me and thanks Chief all the time. I got to fulfill her dream of why she left Argentina. She came to this country not knowing a single word of English and made sacrifices for me. To this day Chief still helps me. It can be anything. If I’m having problems in life, because life can get pretty hard sometimes. Even if it’s financial stuff, I’ll ask him, ‘How do I do this, how do I do that?’ He’ll tell me. Honestly, Chief’s always been a great person to us. He always cares about us. He’s always asking how we’re doing. He never forces anything on us, either. If you want to take his path, or you want to listen to him, you can. If you don’t, you don’t. He doesn’t really force you to do it. I mean, look, I get to go to Florida Atlantic University, and I get to go for free.”

"He doesn’t do things to help himself,” Pero says of Chief Harp. "He does things to help and benefit others. His benefit is seeing us succeed. He doesn’t want a dollar or a dime for any of this. He is just genuinely a nice person who is trying to help us. And it’s really hard to find that these days. You just have to be open minded and listen to him. He’s very wise and very genuine. I was very blessed. Me and my current friends, we were all in the Lely ROTC program together, we went to GMC together, and now we’re all going to be roommates together at Florida Atlantic University. We’re keeping that Lely tradition alive. Sometimes we just sit down and think, ‘Wow, we really got lucky with Chief. How lucky we were to be able to go to Lely High School and end up getting Chief, who actually cared about us. We think about it all the time. We appreciate him so much." 

Vanessa Alvarez is one of the super six cadets who graduated and were commissioned last week in Georgia. She saw her classmates ahead of her on the road to success and decided to follow their lead.

"Some of my friends did it before me and I heard it was really good,” Vanessa Alvarez said. "And I just wanted to better myself and become a better leader. That’s what made me want to join in. It was really good. They made it worth it. ROTC helped us a lot. When I was on staff, we had a formal inspection. Chief really helped us with that. We had two full pages we had to memorize and present to higher leadership. That helped me learn how to present to people and how to speak in front of crowds. At Georgia Military College I narrated all of the parades and ceremonies. It was a good experience. It was worth it for the two years. I’m going to go to Florida Atlantic University and major in criminal justice. I’m going to stay with the Army.”

“Chief is a great person,” Alvarez continues. "He always mentors us and he’s always there for us, no matter what the situation is. You can be going through the toughest times and call him and he’ll always be there for you. He’s been so helpful throughout the years. He’s just an amazing person. I’m happy for his retirement. He’s done so much for us, I think he deserves a break. He flew up to Georgia for us to be our first salute for us commissioning. I want to stay in Florida for good. I’m going to finish out my two years at FAU and then hopefully get a job with the DEA or FBI. I’ll never forget him. He’s really an amazing guy.”

Chief is introspective as he finishes his career at Lely High School.

"I’m about to leave for the last time,” he said. "Everybody looks at Lely High School, sometimes, I guess, like Immokalee. We’re not the Barron Colliers and the Gulf Coasts. Which is fine. I always felt welcomed here. Parents were so supportive here. The teachers were supportive. I’ve had multiple principals. Never one time have I ever run across a principal or administrator who wasn’t supportive of ROTC. It made it very easy to be successful here. You didn’t have to look over your shoulder. You could focus on what we’re here for. We’re here for the youth.”

"My focus when I got here was to change lives,” he said matter-of-factly. "And how I felt that I could do that was making sure that they understood the realisms of the work they were going to put themselves into. You have to figure this stuff out. If you don’t have a plan, the world will consume you. And that will give you mediocrity to be sure. I give the craziest motivational speech when you meet me in ninth grade. I say, ‘If you drink my kool-aid, your life’s going to be so much sweeter.’  I will tell you, we had five graduate last year, six commissioned this year, five are going to be commissioned next year and we have five going up this year.”

Chief Harp was recently recognized by the East Naples Civic Association as its Citizen of the Year for 2022. 

"I won some crazy award,” he said modestly. "When I got there with the other four nominees, I was reading their resumes. I told my wife, ‘we’re just here for the free food because I’m not getting selected,” he said with a laugh. “I was kind of overwhelmed. I’m not giving millions of dollars to the community. After it was all over, the people who spoke to me said, ’The reason you were selected is because you’re really doing it because of your heart. Not for political reasons.’ It’s about our future. These kids are our future. So, I guess that’s how I was selected.”

Chief Harp says he’s ready to enjoy his retirement at age 59.

"I’m free to do what I want,” he reasons. "I served 40 years. I’ll find something after we travel for several months and I settle down. I’ll still help kids. I just felt called to do this. And I’m glad I did. Because a lot of my friends are always away from their home. There’s just so much crazy sacrifice. It’s all about money. For me, it hasn’t been about money, it’s been about truly changing lives. My wife has been incredibly supportive. She is a devout Christian and she just felt this was my calling you could say. It’s not about me. It’s never been about me. It’s always been about serving and trying to change the lives of kids who need you. Some of them you have to lean into. And some you simply just need you to be a figure in their lives - they’re actually looking for it. I’ve always told them, ‘I don’t want to mess with your mind, I want to touch your soul.”

"I always get emotional when I talk about Chief,” Haidy Betancourt said, "because a lot of people don’t realize what he does. He's helped so many kids, even before me, that he didn’t really need to help. Him being that kind of person who is such a good role model and inspiration, that’s what I work towards. I want to be that one day for someone else. He really inspires you.”

"I know that he’s retired officially,” Franco Pero said. "He deserves it. After putting in so much effort, he deserves his retirement. I’m happy for him. But I know deep down that he’s still going to be helping cadets. He’s going to keep helping us as we move forward in becoming adults. He’s also going to see if he can help other kids. He’s always done it. I can’t see him not doing it. He deserves his retirement. He gets to relax and move forward now."