CAP Thunder Composite Squadron members honored at Winter Ball

Santori wins Cadet of the Year; Carroll wins Senior Member of the Year

information provided by Civil Air Patrol

LANSING, Ill. (April 5, 2019) – Civil Air Patrol Group 2 recently held their annual winter ball where each area squadron honored cadet and senior members. Thunder Composite Squadron, based in Lansing, named Cadet Chief Master Sergeant Saylor Santori as 2018 Cadet of the Year.

She also was one of three Group 2 cadets to receive a Commander’s Commendation Award from Illinois Wing Commander, Colonel Bob Dempsey, for her assistance with the Chicago’s Leading Edge Chapter of Women In Aviation’s annual “Girls In Aviation Day” held at Lewis University.

As part of Girls in Aviation Day, cadets led a “Four Forces of Flights” hands-on seminar for nearly 100 girls aged 8-18 and shared information about the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program with the attendees.

C/CMSgt Saylor Santori was also selected as 1 of 7 cadets to represent Illinois Wing during the 2019 CAP Legislative Day.

Also honored at the dinner was Captain Mark Carroll, who received the 2018 Thunder Senior Member of the Year. He is a former cadet and former Squadron Commander with Thunder Composite Squadron. He currently serves as the unit’s Aerospace Education officer and has 25+ years professional experience as a meteorologist. He is President of CALM Weather, LLC where he provides consulting services to various agencies such as WGN Television and maintains the weather station at Bult Field Airport in south suburban Monee. Through the use of one of CAP’s STEM kits, he is currently in the process of setting up a weather station for the Thunder cadets to begin to learn how to read and predict the weather.

About Civil Air Patrol

Civil Air Patrol is an auxiliary program of the U.S. Air Force founded in 1941. With 60,000 members nationwide who devote their time to their communities and to emergency and relief efforts, the program also promotes aviation and related fields through aerospace and STEM education. Adult and cadet volunteers are part of each squadron, supporting America’s communities with emergency response and ground services, youth development and promotion of air, space and cyber power.

To learn more about CAP, visit gocivilairpatrol.com. CAP’s Thunder Squadron IL-317 meets weekly at Heritage Middle School on Wednesdays at 7:00pm and welcomes new members. Heritage Middle School is located at 19250 Burnham Avenue in Lansing, Illinois.