Cadets of the Michigan City High School (MCHS) Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (MCJROTC) conducted a Leadership Camp at the St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy in Delafield, WI, from June 4-8. They also used a local Boy Scout Camp for some of the adventure training and a local state park for their land navigation exercise. The camp was funded by the Marine Corps. It did not cost MCHS or the cadets anything.
“The objective of the camp was to provide leadership opportunities for cadets while conducting adventure training,” said Senior Marine Instructor Major Tom McGrath. “We maximized the training facilities here at St. John’s along with the Scouts and the local park to provide challenging events that tested the cadets mentally and physically.”
Master Sergeant Jeff Benak, the Marine Instructor, complemented the cadets on their endurance and bearing. “We have continued to refine our camp, and the cadets have responded well to the challenges we provide for them. They were worn out by the end of the camp, but their self-esteem went up a few notches from their performance here.”
Michigan City planned and coordinated the camp which also involved Portage and South Bend Riley High Schools. Among the events were rappelling, negotiating an obstacle course, a low level and high-level leadership reaction course, shooting, swimming, canoeing, land navigation and paint ball. Physical Training was conducted every morning at 5:30 am. The final PT event was the famous St. John’s Mud Run.
This was just the first of many summer events for the cadets. They will be supporting the MCHS graduation on June 10th. Some cadets will be attending a Cyber Camp at Purdue Northwest- Hammond June 18-22 in preparation for the Cyber Patriot season. Cyber Patriot is a national cyber competition, where cadets act as a security manager for a company’s information system, defending against a cyber-attack. Cadets are involved with several parades and ceremonies, to include the Michigan City summer festival parade on June 30th. They will also be preparing for the upcoming military drill season. Last year, Michigan City qualified for the National Marine Meet, earning first place in one event. Their objective this year is to not only qualify but win the meet, to be the National MCJROTC champion. Community service continues throughout the summer, culminating with the Michigan City Area Schools Back-To-School Rally on August 9th.