“JROTC instruction is unique in that it includes student involvement in both the teaching and learning of the curriculum.  How has your involvement in JROTC teaching and learning helped you prepare for future college and career challenges?”

Include in the beginning of the essay 

(WHATS TO BE INCLUDED)

It was the Summer of my Sophomore year when I decided that I wanted to branch out into something different, to where I knew I could obtain valuable leadership skills and attended Basic Leadership Training. As I stepped foot on the campsite, a wave of different emotions hit me, I wasn’t sure if this is something I wanted to pursue. I freaked out and started to doubt whether I was going to be able to get through it, but instead of letting my self-doubt hold me captive, I believed in myself, my capabilities, and my potential and gave in my fullest in everything I did.  It was the morning of our second day at Basic Leadership camp and it was time for PT.  It seemed as if we were all too terrified to even face it. Halfway through the PT session, I started feeling sick, but I directed my mindset to I could, and I did. An unfortunate situation unfolded, and I decided to take the initiative and help my cadre. Later that night in the Chow Hall, Lt Aponte approached me and offered me the position as a Platoon Inspector, so I accepted it and embraced this opportunity that came forth. As a Platoon inspector I learned how to lead, and by example, teach others as well. I took everything I had obtained and took it back to my home unit where I then used my experience at BLT to set out to make a difference and get my team to do the greatest things. It has been quite rough journey but here I am as the current Chief Staff Officer of my battalion. 

The JROTC program has given me a sense of home, a greater sense of family, and unity. With the support of my team and instructors I was able to open my eyes to what I could be and what I could do in ways that I never thought were possible. It has taught me that strength doesn’t come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decided not to surrender, that’s what you call strength.   

“JROTC instruction is unique in that it includes student involvement in both the teaching
and learning of the curriculum. How has your involvement in JROTC teaching and

learning helped you prepare for future college and career challenges?”

I often revisit a memory of the time when I feel my life began to shift. It is my
sophomore year of high school, and I’ve just been selected as a competing member of our
battalion’s academic team. I am surrounded by people older than me, more experienced than me,
and I am more than a little intimidated. But all the same, I knew that these confident, capable
cadets around me started right where I currently was; eager to learn, and perhaps one day teach,
the vast quantities of material we covered during practice.

We began with learning the Naval Science 1 textbook. Sitting in a classroom and going
over the textbook definitions may not have been everyone’s preferred method of learning, but for
me, it was my first peek into the world of leadership and followership. I analyzed the text, ran
possible interactions through my head, and asked the team commander and my teammates
questions. In this scenario, what if…? I learned from the glossy pages of the NS1 book how to
identify the aforementioned categories of participants.

Then, in my experiences, I learned how to draw all the types together into a cooperative
unit; in other words, I learned how to lead, and by example, teach others as well.

That summer, my Naval Science Instructors had encouraged me to attend Basic
Leadership Training Camp. The camp was relatively intense from the beginning; for many, it was
our first exposure to a militaristic environment outside of school. A series of unfortunate events
unfolded, as they tend to do in uncomfortable experiences. We were soaked with a Florida
downpour that appeared out of nowhere. Our tents, having been left open to circulate some of the
hot July air, did little to protect our belongings. Mosquitoes plagued us night and day, during the
morning runs and nightly fire watches. But as it was, we were all in that same miserable situation.
So, on the third morning, when everyone was either dejected or ready to mutiny against yet
another round of morning exercises and a run, I addressed the situation. Thankfully, I had been
able to lead them to choose the latter option. It was incredible how, through my admittedly forced
optimism, I had led my platoon away from the gloomy mood and toward this shared feeling of
accomplishment. It filled me with a profound sense of pride.

After the conclusion of BLTC, I have seen those who I attended with at competitions and
ceremonies. They expressed to me how they appreciated my leadership, and I learned that I had
been an example for them as they returned to their own home units and shared what they’d
learned at the camp.

The road I have chosen for myself is a challenging one, physical, emotionally, and
academically. My choice to attend the United States Naval Academy has never wavered, but as I
have grown more mature, the realities of my dream have become clearer. It would be naïve not to
believe that there will be times when I have to push myself, as well as others.

I have come a long way since that first anxious interaction with the people who had
become my second family. I am now not only the current academic team commander, but the

Chief Staff Officer of my battalion. I have guided and motivated those around me so that we, as a
cohesive team and unit, can tackle any goal set before us. I am ready to take this experience of
learning, doing, and teaching with me as I pursue my college and career goals.

“JROTC instruction is unique in that it includes student involvement in both the teaching and
learning of the curriculum. How has your involvement in JROTC teaching and learning

helped you prepare for future college and career challenges?”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What makes a good leader? Is it fear or love? Machiavellians and moralists alike have
been vexed by this question for centuries. Meanwhile, this question has been a point of great
contention throughout my life, with my personal philosophy – being that a leader’s purpose is to
serve his/her followers – oft times conflicting with the expectations for me to apply a forceful
hand upon my subordinates. Throughout my years of JROTC I have grappled with this
incongruence, and ultimately I learned to abandon my preconceptions on what a leader should be
in favor of following my own path. Upon this unweeded trail I was met with dilapidated fortune,
and the overgrown thorns of my opposition. Yet, with my ideology as a machete I pushed
forward, never straying from my aphorism that “A leader unwilling to sacrifice himself for his
followers is undeserving of his position.”
The day was Competition day; the wind was crisp, and the only thing greener than the
grass was our cadets’ envy towards higher performing teams. I was standing with my soon-to-be
predecessor, whose pep talks had given way to projections of their inner melancholy. The two of
us looked towards the Awards Table; on it I saw a goal worth fighting for, yet my counterpart
saw an impossible dream. Both of our eyes had set upon the same 1st Place Overall Academics
trophy. The most apathetic of leaders – my aforementioned teammate included – have become
indoctrinated to the belief that whatever they do in life is utterly inconsequential. They hold to
the idea that sometime in the future, the solution will emerge by itself. All order breaks down in
disorder, and no problem ever solves itself. It is only through the work of leaders and followers
alike that we may reach for our goals – for example, a 1st Place Academics trophy.

From George Washington to Nestor Makhno, a true leader never fails to realize that they
are a part of the team, not independent or superior to it. In nature, even the most resilient and
beautiful of flowers could not exist without the humble worker bee; however, no matter how
dedicated this bee is, she could not survive without the flower’s nourishment. No different is the
symbiotic relationship of a leader and follow, wherein one could not possibly survive without the
other. This I learned from my time as Academic Team Commander, wherein my own Icarian
temperaments caused me to distance myself from my team and pursue a victory through my own
individual merits. At the end of my sophomore year, I was given the task of planning and
directing an academic competition; however, my arrogance prompted me to refuse the help of
my contemporaries, and attempt to complete this task on my own. While this pursuit was
ultimately successful, I had encumbered myself with the weight of my work, causing myself
unnecessary stress. However, this was a necessary Trial by Fire, from which I learned the
importance of a interdependent relationship between leader and follower.

When more imaginative minds speak of time travel, they often express their worries that
any small action in the past may radically change the present; why is it, then, that nobody today
worries that any small action in the present may radically change the future? This is what JROTC
has reinforced in me, that in order to make a change or do anything of significance, you must
take that first step, and dedicate the entirety of your body and mind towards your goal; however,

it has also taught me that nobody can do this alone, and that behind every great leader is an
imperishable mass of loyal followers and companions.