MOULTRIE – Ten Colquitt County High School students are beginning to apply their newfound leadership, cybersecurity and drill skills to their local JROTC program after returning from summer camps held across the nation.
Lt. Col. Jason Perdew, the senior Marine Corps ROTC instructor at Colquitt County High, said cadets attending camps are one of the key aspects of the JROTC program. The experience allows students to travel out of state and helps ensure a team-focused community within the school’s JROTC program.
“The beauty of it is they meet all these kids from around the nation. They see how they’re doing in their programs. They get ideas out of it and then bring those back to our program. It expands our overall knowledge and experience for the senior cadets. They bring back new ideas and experiences and use it to motivate our younger cadets,” Perdew said.
CCHS JROTC cadets Vianey Bueno, Michael Marshall, Fernando Rivera, Justin Allen and Savannah Tyson attended Senior Cadet Leadership camps at Fork Union Military School in Fork Union, Virginia. Each cadet attended one of the two camp sessions scheduled in July.
The one-week courses were designed to provide the cadets with leadership training that will help them fill leadership positions within the CCHS JROTC program.
Marshall and Tyson’s main takeaways from the program were the importance of being organized and adaptable as a leader and a leader’s emotional impact to a group.
“One thing I did notice at the SLC, which I would like to incorporate here, is that the emotions of the leader were very important in certain situations where the leader was forced to basically get the whole platoon to do something. If he wasn’t hyped up and ready to go, they weren’t hyped up and ready to go,” Marshall said. He serves as the CCHS JROTC company commander this year.
Allen valued learning about other people’s backgrounds and making friends during the camp. He continues to stay in contact with a few cadets he met within his platoon.
“When you spend a week with somebody, you get to know them a lot,” he said.
Rivera agreed and also found an interest in learning about other cadets’ JROTC programs.
Tyson, Kaegen Bledsoe, Jeremiah Nelson and Andrew Perdew attended drill camps at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas, in July. The cadets learned how to use their command voice and found confidence in their leadership abilities. They also received in-depth drill and ceremony training like learning an exhibition drill routine.
Bledsoe and Nelson also attended Camp Outdoor Odyssey in Boswell, Pa. The camp provided the cadets with lessons and activities to address outdoor learning, leadership and collaborative problem solving, rappelling, climbing, zip-line, high and low ropes course, hiking and caving.
CCHS JROTC cadets Jesus Luna and Cason Bryant also traveled to Fork Union Military School to participate in the Cyber STEM Academy. The two cadets are members of the high school’s CyberPatriot Team and received three college credits in computer science along with the opportunity to test for and receive an industry recognized 8140 certification in Cyber Security upon completing the program.
Luna said he had an amazing time attending the camp and will serve as the cyber captain for this year’s team. He even might pursue cybersecurity as a potential career.
Bryant didn’t know much about the field before attending the camp. He learned the basics of cybersecurity during the two-week courses and wants to teach other team members conversion skills this season.
To potential cybersecurity campers Luna said, “Go in with an open mind, get ready to learn and to stay awake, and stay hydrated.”
Andrew Perdew also attended an Aviation STEM Camp at Fork Union Military School. He has a new plan for his future after finding an interest in aviation.
“At the aviation camp, the primary thing we learned was STEM stuff like coding, robotics, avionics and electronic software. Things that I believe will be the future of aviation. It was a really important deal for me,” Perdew said.
He gained experience in C++ coding, learned about different aircraft and viewed a helicopter in person.
“You really need patience. That’s the big thing. Everything will come to you eventually, you just have to wait for it,” Andrew Perdew explained.
Lt. Col. Jason Perdew’s goals for the program this year are to expand while increasing student participation and attending more competitions. Last year, the Raider and Drill teams struggled in competitions, but he hopes these 10 cadets will apply their new knowledge to help progress the teams this year.