JROTC STEM Leadership Academy helps students develop skills
Published 11:19 pm Monday, June 9, 2025
Emily Bahillo, Holmes County, Fla., High School; Zachairia Simmons, Bullock County High School; and Currel Gleen, Pike County High School, discuss their STEM project. The students attending the JROTC STEM Leadership Academy were required to build a robotic boat capable of completing three different tasks.
Goshen High School JROTC members, from left, Emari Wright, Haley Wilson and Allie-Ann Kohl were assigned to different teams at the academy. Assigning students to different teams encouraged the participants to develop new friendships and develop teamwork skills.
Angela Goshea, Charles Henderson High School, discusses her JROTC STEM Leadership Academy team’s STEM project. The students attending academy participated in physical JROTC drills and challenges as well as completing a robotics challenge for the STEM portion of the academy.
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps from nine schools participated in the fourth annual JROTC STEM Leadership Academy at Troy University.
The camp is administered by Pike County Schools and hosted by Troy University. Jeremy Knox, assistant to the superintendent for Pike County Schools, said this was the third year Troy University has hosted the academy and students from Huntsville to the Florida panhandle attended the academy. Locally, ROTC students from Pike County High School, Goshen High School and Charles Henderson High School attended the academy.
Amy Garrett, JROTC STEM Leadership Academy coordinator, said the camp consisted of three parts – JROTC skills included both leadership and physical fitness instruction, the STEM portion of the camp had a maritime theme and required the students to build a LEGO Robotics boat capable of completing three different missions, and the final portion of the camp included industry visits to the Walnut Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility, Montgomery Whitewater and Alabama Power’s Jordan Dam.
“The industry visits were an important part of the camp because it showed students how STEM related to those industries,” Garrett said. “It also showed the students what opportunities are out there and what skills they would need to get those jobs.”
Kim Sellers, master STEM instructor for the academy, said the STEM portion of the camp involved the use of LEGO Robotics kits to build a boat that could complete three different missions. She said the boat had to be able to pick up “swimmers” from the water, recognize two different colors and then, using a combination of skills from the two previous missions, navigate a minefield.
“At the end of the week, the students had to create and present a presentation explaining what they learned from the STEM portion of the camp,” Sellers said.
Being an ROTC camp, CW3 Tyler Martin, JROTC STEM Leadership Academy coordinator, said the camp had a strong focus on team and leadership skills as well.
“We have drills and physical training.” Martin said. “A lot of the training focused on discipline and teamwork, accountability, motivation and staying focused. The Troy Recreation Center partnered with us so we could teach the students about drown-proofing and practice orienteering skills.”
Martin went on to say the camp focus on STEM was inline with the training and skills needed by a modern military. He said the U.S. Armed Forces use advanced technology and need soldiers with a strong background in STEM skills.
