This past week the Butler High School JROTC program participated in the National Junior Achievement Program for elementary school kids. The 35 cadets who participated conducted lessons to multiple classes at Crown Point Elementary School.
The cadets participated in the Junior Achievement High School Heroes Program. The program provides students the opportunity to become student role models by teaching and inspiring younger elementary students. An elementary school teacher is matched with a team of high school heroes, in this case the JROTC cadets from Butler. The cadets spend and entire day with the elementary class. They are the teacher for the day, they teach a series of various fun and interactive lessons. They develop a lesson plan, become self-directed role models, while managing the classroom for an average of five hours they spend with the school children.
Many of the lessons are hands-on and focus on one or more of the three pillars of the program, which are financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Each lesson is activity based, reinforcing different concepts. Through the program, the cadets talk to the kids about their own experiences, and inspire kids to think about what they can achieve if they work hard, apply themselves and dream big.
“Your students stepped up in ways I never expected. Not only were they prepared and ready to lead classes, but the teamwork, communication, leadership, and creativity I witnessed is truly a testament to the amazing teachers and programs at Butler High School, as well as the students own commitment to making a difference in their community through Junior Achievement’s JA in a Day program,” said Amy Korb, Director of Education, at Junior Achievement of Central Carolina’s.
The benefits the cadets experienced by taking part in the program fits perfectly with the JROTC program. The cadets get practice being a role model to a younger student, they learn leadership and teamwork skills, earn community service hours for graduation, build public speaking and presentation skills, get exposure to the teaching profession, gain hands-on work related experience, and build up their resume for college, technical and military service applications.
