As the school year comes to an end, the JROTC Battalion is ready to show off everything the program is about to the school’s younger kids.

Leadership Day gives cadets an opportunity to recruit next year’s upcoming freshmen to the program.

Any eighth grade student can participate, and this year sign-ups also were opened to sixth graders in Mrs. Pamela Learn’s Social Studies club to go through a mini Leadership Day separate from the eighth graders in the morning.

To start the day May 13, participants were split into three companies—Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. Each were led by a JROTC company commander who would take the kids through each of the stations.

The first rotation included the staff, leadership, uniforms, ranks, and JLAB. This station gave the students an overview of the program as well an opportunity to create their own mock chain of command.

The second rotation demonstrated the Drill Team. Students learned the importance of discipline and were able to practice facing movements.

The third rotation displayed the air riffles from the Marksmanship Team. Kids learned the stances from the standing, prone, and kneeling positions.

“I enjoyed spending time with the eighth graders. It was great to see them having a fun time at all the stations,” said sophomore Delaney Thomas.

The fourth rotation featured the color guard and drum and fife teams. The kids could use some of the equipment and even got to play the drums!

The fifth rotation was the Raiders station. Here students could try the litter carry, tie a Swiss seat, and cross the one-rope bridge.

The final rotation was the PT test. Students showed off there physical strength by demonstrating how many push-ups and sit-ups they could do in a minute as well as how fast they could run a lap. The results from this station would help determine the day’s iron man and woman.

The final event of the day brought all companies back together for team games. Here the companies completed against each other though the hula hoop, rock, paper scissors game; tug of war; and the human table.

“I really enjoyed Leadership Day because it’s so nice to see the underclassmen show enjoyment and interest in the things our battalion does. I got to be the Alpha Company commander this year and it was so much fun to see the eighth graders so involved in all of the different stations we had,” said sophomore Jordan Lohry.

Finishing the day Sergeant Major Weaver gave closing remarks and rewarded each eighth grader with a certificate for completing Leadership Day.

“Planning Leadership Day was a great experience, and honestly, really fun to do. It was amazing to see everything come together smoothly in the end and see all of the kids enjoying themselves,” said sophomore Olivia St. Esprit who organized the event.