Summer vacation? Midwest High School cadets spent two weeks at RTC Great Lakes

All Hands, Sept, 2003 by James Pinsky

"Dear Mom and Dad,

I'm having a blast here at camp. We got up at 5:30 a.m., marched to breakfast, ran two miles, and--hey--remember that girl that I fought with all the time? Well, we're best friends now.

Tomorrow I'm learning how to sail, but don't worry I won't drown because Navy Search and Rescue (SAR) swimmers taught me how to swim!

OK, I have to go because we're having an inspection in an hour and I want to have the best made bed. This camp is the best! Love always ..."

Does this sound like the letter you wrote to your parents from summer camp?

It might have, if you graduated from the Naval Junior ROTC's annual Leadership Academy held this past summer at Recruit Training Command (RTC), Great Lakes, Ill.

More than 170 Midwestern high school students from 48 NJROTC programs traded in summer vacation mid-afternoon wake-up calls for two weeks of training, June 18-28, for the opportunity to be more than just well-trained cadets--they want to be leaders.

"NJROTC helps kids become good citizens," said Senior Naval Science Instructor (SNSI) Michael Robinson, a retired Navy commander, who teaches at Flint Central High School in Michigan. "At the Leadership Academy, we take the top 10 percent of the NJROTC program and prepare them beyond just being a good cadet. We teach them what it takes to become the leaders of the NJROTC units back at their high schools."

The Naval Junior ROTC Leadership Academy began in 1980 in Norfolk, as a way of preparing cadets to properly assume leadership roles within their prospective high schools' JROTC programs. This year's Leadership Academy site was held at RTC Great Lakes, because of its central location to Region 9 and its leadership-orientated facilities and staff.

Cadets compete for the chance to attend the academy because it grooms them to accept senior leadership roles within their NJROTC units, such as cadet commanding and executive officers, better than anything else offered within the NJROTC community.

"Being at RTC allows the cadets to see real recruits doing things the way Sailors ought to do them," said retired Chief Petty Officer Craig White. "Hopefully, the cadets will take what they learned here and apply it to their own NJROTC programs."

"This is the toughest training I've ever gone through," said Cadet LCDR Sangjoon Jin, from Shawnee Mission West, Kan. "Last year, I attended the U.S. Naval Academy's leadership training seminar, and it was a lot easier there. Here, we had tough, tough inspections because of the RDCs (Recruit Division Commanders)."

Each cadet was hand selected based on demonstrated leadership potential, a minimum grade point average of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale and overall military drill proficiency.

"We select cadets for the leadership academy a lot like a football coach might select a team captain." "We want someone other cadets will respect, someone who understands what NJROTC is all about--someone who can have command presence," said Robinson.

But, brains alone aren't enough to qualify cadets for the academy. They must be considered physically-fit based on NJROTC standards, which are derived from the President's Challenge Physical Fitness Awards program for 14-17 year-olds. One of the goals at the Leadership Academy challenges cadets to pass the Navy's Physical Fitness Test based on the Navy's Physical Readiness Standards (OPNAVINST 6110.1D) for 17 year-olds. The PFT for cadets includes the 1.5-mile run, curl-ups and push-ups, the same as Sailors.

Even it cadets make it through the two-week leadership academy academically and militarily, a PFT failure robs the cadet of the coveted silver cord that signifies being a leadership academy graduate and leaves them with only a certificate of completion.

"No one comes here for the certificate," said Cadet Petty Officer 2nd Class Josiah Branson, Madisonville North High School, Hopkinsville, Ky. "We all want that silver cord."

Fortunately, PFT failures are rare at the academy level, and NJROTC inherently motivates cadets who want to succeed both academically and physically. NJROTC provides cadets with the necessary life skills to overcome any obstacles in their lives.

"NJROTC changed my life forever," said Cadet Senior Chief Petty officer Jenna Hoops, Flint Central High School, Flint, Mich. "I started high school with the wrong attitude and the wrong priorities. The most important skill I learned so far has been self-discipline," she added. "It has allowed me to really listen to what teachers, my parents, and even my friends have to say."

Hoops new perspective is more than just talk. Since joining NJROTC as a freshman she has raised her overall grade-point average from 2.0 to 3.0. In addition to turning her academics around, she abandoned an unhealthy lifestyle, which caused her to fail her first NJROTC PFT, and became one of the physical fitness leaders of Bravo Company at Leadership Academy. Her new-found confidence in herself led her to join her school's NJROTC exhibition drill team, which placed first last year at the coveted Grove City Invitational in Ohio.