NJROTC Cadets Sail Through Annual Leadership Academy
Story and photos by SCOTT A. THORNBLOOM
Naval Service Training Command Public Affairs Office
More than 140 Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) cadets, including 7 Northmont NJROTC Cadets (Collins, Dillion, Dilts, Fisher, Lewis, O'Shea, and Schwieterman) literally sailed through the annual NJROTC Leadership Academy at Naval Station Great Lakes June 15-20.
“This academy each year trains cadets to be the senior leaders of their units for the upcoming high school year,” said retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Barry Boettcher, a naval science instructor at Freeport (IL) High School and one of the instructors and supervisors at this year’s academy.
“We want these cadets to be able to go back to their high schools and take charge and run their units.”
Boettcher said the academy uses training, teamwork and camaraderie to turn the high school juniors into senior leaders. And it isn’t just sailing on Lake Michigan, there are also close order drills, personnel inspections and 23 leadership traits, each cadet has to learn and get up and discuss with the other cadets in the group they are assigned.
The annual academy was hosted by Naval Service Training Command (NSTC), headquartered at Great Lakes , and run by NJROTC’s Area 3, which encompasses eight states in the Midwest.
The cadets represented 55 high schools and units from Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia. Other states, including Kentucky, Virginia and California, also traveled to Great Lakes to attend the week-long event.
NSTC oversees more than 600 NJROTC units worldwide. NJROTC is a citizenship program that instills service to the United States, personal responsibility and a sense of accomplishment in students in United States secondary educational institutions.
“We hope the cadets take away ideas to use with their units and make their units better,” Boettcher said.
Cadet Lt. Cmdr. Jenna Samples, 17, from Freeport High School agreed.
“I learned a lot about leadership, time management and making plans by back planning from the farthest plan to the nearest,” she said. “It was fun, especially the sailing, because I had never done that before.”
Samples also said getting to know the other cadets from across the country was beneficial in networking and gathering different ideas.
“This academy, as well as NJROTC, has really helped me mature, gain confidence, and opened up doors for me to continue to college,” she said.
During the week, the cadets split up into multiple platoons. The academy curriculum also included physical training, uniform and room inspections, a drill competition, basic seamanship and, of course, the extensive lessons in sailing and maneuvering a rubber raft as a team on Lake Michigan, which is the only NJROTC academy that has 100 percent (participation) of the cadets completing the sailing curriculum.
“This academy does a lot for the cadets attending,” said Cadet Ensign Thomas Patterson, 18, from Northmont High School in Clayton, Ohio, who joined four other academy graduates returning to be assistants to the instructors.
“The biggest thing to take away from the academy, other than the skills and leadership traits learned here, are the friendships that are made.”
Patterson will be attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University this fall on an NROTC scholarship.
“The academy was a big reason on preparing me for college and why I’ll be ready to attend Embry-Riddle.”
The cadets ended the week with a graduation ceremony during which they received a silver shoulder cord to wear on their uniforms, signifying the completion of the leadership academy.
