Welcome to the Young Marines
Fox Valley
We are the Fox Valley Young Marines, located in Elgin, IL, and are proud to be a part of our nation’s premier, award-winning program for boys and girls between the ages of eight and eighteen. We received our charter in May of 2016 and, under the command of Col.Jim Bathurst, USMC, retired, Fox Valley Young Marines became a reality. Col. Bathurst, a 36-year retired Marine, commanded young men and women of every age. He served as the Commanding Officer at 8th&I, in charge of the Color Guard and Silent Drill Team. While he was a Marine, his 1st priority as our Unit Commander was knowing these were youths and not Marines. Each should be mentored and lead positively. Over the course of the next 3 years, he mentored and led not only young Marines but our Adult Volunteers as well. In doing so, he was able to confidently step down as Unit Commander in 2019 and change command to Mrs. Gutierrez.
While Mrs. Gutierrez may be a civilian, she has continued to grow and strengthen our unit year over year with the dedicated support of both our Adult Volunteers and parents. Having 2 of her own children in the program, she could understand and see firsthand how this program has helped her own children. Shortly after assuming command of Fox Valley, COVID hit, and our unit was faced with a choice: stop all activities or continue online via Zoom. Understanding the importance of connecting with our youth during a time of uncertainty was crucial, so we continued meeting weekly online. It was important to us all to continue seeing each other, and because of this, our unit remained strong during this difficult time. Our continued efforts to remain strong helped us earn our 1st award, 2021 Division Unit of the Year.
From there, we continued our goals of instilling and promoting our Young Marines Motto of "Living a Healthy and Drug-Free Lifestyle." We work with our youths to improve fitness, teach and promote healthy eating habits, and are consistently looking for ways to spread awareness of the dangers of drugs. In 2023, during our National leadership school, one Fox Valley Young Marine achieved the highest and a perfect physical fitness score of 500 and earned honor grad for his Junior Leadership School. To continue our drug-free efforts, we held a community 5K, received a proclamation from our Mayor, placed red ribbons on bridges in our community, and painted and placed some rocks with drug-free messages in our community. Due to these efforts, our unit was recognized by the DEA and awarded the 2023 Enrique "Kiki" Camerana award.
In 2024, our unit continued to thrive and excel. We were again named the Division Unit of the Year for all of our unit efforts thusfar. At our National Leadership School, we again had our young marine achieve the highest and a perfect physical fitness score of 500, and earned honor grad again for his Senior Leadership School. Additionally, 2024 was the start of our biggest drug-free project yet. A Drug Free America Rocks. Our Young Marines spent countless hours painting drug-free messages on hundreds of rocks. On the back of each rock is a picture of someone who's passed from fentanyl and the 24-hour 800 crisis hotline. These rocks have been distributed throughout the US and have been found by others who post on our page! THIS was exactly what our unit hoped to achieve: awareness! In doing so, we were again recognized by the DEA, earning our 2nd Enrique "Kiki" Camerana award in 2025. These efforts have made us well known as the "Drug Free" unit. Many units across the US are seeking us out to help with our Drug Free America Rocks project, utilizing this same project at their own unit level. Our Executive Officer attended Capitol Hill in Washington DC petitioning for the prevention of youth access by restricting unregulated cannabis derivative sales (hemp farming loophole). On November 12th, 2025, this bill passed and was signed into law.
As 2025 was another unit success with the award of the DEA Enrique "Kiki" Camerana award and the passing of the bill, our young marines were equally successful at our National Leadership School for a third year in a row. This year, we had both our male and female young marines achieve the highest physical fitness score for Junior Leadership School, and 2 of our young marines who staffed the school earned prestigious awards for their commitment and dedication as staff to the school. In the summer, 2 staff members were personally selected to represent our organization alongside Col. Bill Davis, USMC (retired), CEO, Young Marines, at the National Elks Convention in July of 2025. In 2026, Fox Valley will again be alongside Col. Davis, representing our organization for the National Elks Convention held in Chicago, Illinois.
The Young Marines strengthens the lives of America's youth by teaching the importance of self-confidence, academic achievement, honoring our veterans, good citizenship, community service, and living a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. The Young Marines promotes the mental, moral, and physical development of its members. The program focuses on character building and leadership and promotes a lifestyle that is conducive to being productive members of society. The Young Marines is the premier youth organization in its Drug Demand Reduction efforts.
The Young Marines is open to all youth ages 8 through the completion of high school. The only membership requirement is that the youth must be in good standing at school. Since the Young Marines' humble beginnings in 1959, with one unit and a handful of boys, the organization has grown, with units throughout the country and overseas.
Upon joining a local Young Marine unit, youth undergo a 26-hour orientation program, generally spread out over several weekly meetings. This orientation is called Recruit Training. The youth learn general subjects such as history, customs and courtesies, close order drill, physical fitness, and military rank structure. After graduating from Young Marine Recruit Training, the youth have the opportunity to learn even more new skills, earn a rank, wear the Young Marine uniform, and work toward ribbon awards. Young Marines earn ribbons for achievement in areas such as leadership, community service, swimming, academic excellence, first aid, and drug resistance education.