Contact: Kenneth Billings
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State and the Department of the Army are joining to launch a series of leadership camps for Mississippi and Louisiana students involved in junior reserve officer training at their high schools.
Fully funded by the military branch and organized by the university's LeaderSTATE program, the training will provide JROTC students with opportunities to expand their leadership capabilities, enhance mathematics and science skills, and develop a "can-do" attitude, among other attributes.
LeaderSTATE is administered by MSU's Office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement, a unit of the Division of Student Affairs.
"The funding for JROTC LeaderSTATE is coming from the Army's Maintenance and Training budget," said Col. Paul Willis, Jackson Public Schools' director of army instruction. Willis worked closely with the land-grant institution in developing the camp and securing funding.
"Through partnering with MSU, the Army wishes to provide its JROTC cadets with an optimal introduction to scientific, technology, engineering, and mathematics career opportunities, while providing them with direct exposure to a college atmosphere, and improved physical fitness," Willis explained.
Free to all who attend, the camps for Mississippi students take place June 6-10, 13-17 and 20-24; for the Bayou State residents, June 27-July 1. Cadets will be housed in Creswell Residence Hall and all training activities will be held on campus.
"Cadets are selected based on a variety of criteria, including impeccable character, a keen sense of responsibility and willingness to work hard to achieve honorable goals," said Cade Smith, MSU assistant dean of students.
Smith, who heads the student leadership and community engagement office, said the goal of the JROTC LeaderSTATE partnership is to develop a camp model that may be applied in all areas of the country to introduce high school cadets to career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics--often referred to as the STEM curriculum. (For more, visit: http://leaderstate.msstate.edu.)
In the process, the students will be introduced to the college environment, along with STEM courses and related work sites, Smith added.
For additional information on LeaderSTATE, call Smith at Mississippi State University at 662-325-0244.