Reflective Essay: The Effect Of ROTC On Kids

The Effect of ROTC on Kids

I’ve been ridiculed by most of my friends for being in ROTC and talking about it a lot. ROTC has taught me everything from the military to learning how to act at a formal party. Before the beginning of the school year I went to a camp called Summer Leadership School or SLS which taught me how to drill correctly and act correctly.

When my brother joined ROTC I thought it was the coolest class and from then on I knew that I wanted to be a part of it. ROTC has helped me throughout high school it has helped me meet new people and make new friends and all of those friends taught me ways to get through high school with less stress. Most people knew because my brother was a senior and was very popular so that’s how I met most people. Some of the people who influenced me in high school were my brother and some of his closest friends Ryan Ellenwood and Breannah Baur.

I’ve done multiple activities in ROTC like drill team and color guard. I was a part of one the best color guards which was for

graduation day when my brother and most of the people that helped me through the year graduated. I realized I would have to go through high school without anybody to be there to walk me through it. I was also in Black Hills Drill Down at Central high school where we placed second out of the four schools that showed up.
I went on a trip to SDSU to see the college ROTC and how they teach and learn which was very different from how we learned here.

I went on the trip with my brother and four other students who were picked by the teachers. When we went to the college we went on a tour of the campus where we learned some history like that cookies and cream was created at SDSU. We picked out two classes that we would like to visit I picked civil engineering and aviation. Civil engineering was very confusing and consisted of long complicated equations that I didn’t understand so I knew that I didn’t want to do that in college. Aviation was my favorite class because we saw the planes up close and met a former student who is now in the military and we also got to mess around with a flight simulation. I was also picked for a alternate for another camp called MCOLS or Mountaineer Cadet Officer Leadership School which would also teach me how to be an even greater student in

ROTC.
When we went to our military ball we were dressed all formally and had to act appropriate. If someone doesn’t act appropriately they would have to do something called grog which was a mixed concoction of many disgusting foods and drinks mixed together. It was on Valentine’s Day and we had a fancy dinner and I had an amazing night with friends.
My outcome of ROTC was to make many new friends and get the chances to be apart of some of the best activities. I also saw friends leave and go on to do great things later on.