The three Navy veterans who have led the NJROTC program at MAST on Sandy Hook for 12 years have been selected for the New Jersey State Distinguished Citizen Award by the Daughters of the American Revolution, nominated for the honor by the Middletown Chapter of the DAR.
The trio, Commander Tracie Smith-Yeoman, Senior Chief Michael Vaccarella and Chief Wil Fetherman, all Navy retirees, will receive the presentation and be honored at the 5th annual Veterans Appreciation Luncheon of the Middletown DAR on Monday, October 5 at the Holmdel Senior Citizen/Community Center on Crawfords Corner Road in Holmdel.
“I cannot think of anyone more worthy for the Citizenship Award than Commander Smith-Yeoman and her Naval Science Instructors,” said Earl Moore, principal at the Marine Academy of Science and Technology, when learning of the honor. “They are the personification of citizenship; the most hard-working, honest, community-involved team I have ever had the honor to work with.”
The three instructors have a total of more than 67 years in the Navy and 40 years working together at MAST, with Vaccarella the longest serving having started at MAST in 2009 and Fetherman joining him the next year. Smith-Yeoman, who had been the Senior Naval Science Instructor since 2012, retired earlier in January 2025.
The trio were not new to each other when they came to MAST, with their paths having crossed during their years with the Navy; Vaccarella and Fetherman served together for several years while stationed in Connecticut, and Fetherman was at NWS Earle in Colts Neck when Smith-Yeoman was the commanding officer of the reserve center there.
At MAST, Fetherman teaches Naval Science to the freshmen, which includes their introduction to NJROTC as well as classes on how to wear the uniform; Navy ranks/rates, ships, and aircraft; executive skills such as time management, stress management, best practices including studying and completing homework; effective followership; and basic military drill including saluting, standing at attention and parade rest, basic marching, and military bearing.
Vaccarella teaches Naval Science II to the sophomores, which includes maritime history focusing on US naval history from the founding of our country until WWII; and leadership.
Smith-Yeoman taught Naval Science III to the juniors which included ship construction, shipboard firefighting and damage control, watch standing, merchant fleet operations, leadership, and the Navy’s legal justice system.
The three split the senior class studies, all teaching Naval Science IV courses in leadership, ethics, cultural awareness and geography. They all also taught all four grade levels each year in public speaking, sexual harassment recognition and prevention, safety (both executing events safely and developing safety plans before an event), being an upstander (as opposed to a bystander), suicide awareness, physical fitness, and current events.
Smith-Yeoman has received acclaim since her design and introduction of an additional class for juniors on the Medal of Honor.
This was a two week courses she initiated in 2016 after attending a presentation given by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society about their Character Development Program. The program provided lesson plans and other materials that used the stories of Medal of Honor recipients to help students build strong character, develop leadership skills, become active citizens, and embrace the spirit of service. She implemented the program by first giving a lecture to the cadets about the history and design of the Medal, the regulations surrounding the awarding and wearing of it, and stories of some of the more “famous” recipients … Dr. Mary Walker, President Teddy Roosevelt, Lieutenant Michael Murphy, Corporal Bud Thorne, Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone, Father Vincent Capodanno and more.
She then had the cadets each select their own choice of a recipient, research and make a presentation to the class about that person, addressing specific questions on the background of the individual, the action that warranted the award, what the recipient did after receiving the award if it was presented to a living recipient, what buildings or monuments are dedicated to that person and more on its importance in their own home towns.
“The program turned out to be a resounding success,” the retired instructor said. “Cadets repeatedly told me it was their favorite lesson of junior year. They got really excited about their recipients; I remember one cadet being outright indignant that no building — not even a post office — was named after his recipient.”
Smith-Yeoman said it was important to her personally to create and present the Medal of Honor program “because I felt that learning about the recipients gave the cadets a whole new set of true role models to look up to.” If there was a down side to it, she laughs, it’s that “it took several weeks to complete the topic because the students frequently went over the ten minute guideline for the length of their presentations, and I never wanted to rush them.”
Although MAST has fewer than 300 students and fewer than 70 graduates a year, throughout their years as a team at MAST, the three instructors also supported graduates every year applying for and being accepted for millions of dollars of ROTC scholarships and admittance to all the federal service academies, including the Merchant Marine Academy and the new program for the Space Force. Recently, MAST was named by US News and World Report as the 11th highest ranking public high school in the state.
Persons wishing to attend the DAR annual luncheon should e-mail MiddletownDAR@gmail.com for further information.
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