For five days last week the air at Fort Pickett echoed with the motivated cheers of high school cadets from throughout Virginia and North Carolina.
The Junior ROTC Cadet Leadership Camp (known as JCLC Eagle) drew over 250 young people from 25 different schools and units to the training grounds located in Blackstone, Virginia.
The annual training event is designed to give JROTC cadets an opportunity to hone the skills they have acquired during the school year while meeting and interacting with like-minded young people from around the region.
Sponsored by US Army Cadet Command and supervised by retired US Army personnel (who now serve as JROTC instructors), JCLC Eagle focuses on the importance of teamwork and mutual respect in accomplishing a variety of tasks.
Cadets, organized into three, two-platoon companies, spent the week rotating through a series of field stations and classrooms covering topics such as: first aid; water safety and rescue; rappelling; drill and ceremony; group problem solving; conflict resolution; physical fitness; and, even, basic rocketry.
During a classroom session on Friday, Cadets were taught the basics of rocketry and each assembled their own small rocket. On Saturday they were treated to a demonstration by FMS’ own Rocket Club advisor, CPT Tom Galloway, and his colleagues from Virginia AeroSpace Team (VAST) after which each rocket built the previous day was fired as the Cadets cheered.
Fishburne Military School Cadet Quinten DeLorenzo, a rising Junior from Jefferson, Maine, said during Saturday’s Field Day events, “at first it sounded like it was going to be really tough based on what I had heard from others and it is a lot of work … but this has really been a lot of fun.”
Of the ten Cadets chosen to attend from Fishburne Military School, Cadet Xiaoyu Chen, a rising Junior hailing from Wuhan, China, was selected as the Honor Graduate second runner up (third-most top performing Cadet) for JCLC Eagle 2018.
Fishburne Military School Senior Army Instructor, LTC Robert Hunt, USA(Ret.), noted, “this is a tremendous opportunity for Cadets to grow stronger in their leadership skills while exploring new challenges and intermingling with students from other programs. It’s gratifying to see so many young people taking full advantage of this experience to build personal strength and integrity.”
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