By Sarah Campbell
scampbell@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Salisbury High School will launch its Middle School Junior ROTC mentoring program this July.
The 12-day program is designed for rising seventh, eighth and ninth-graders who live in the Salisbury attendance zone.
“It’s for any student who wants to improve their self-discipline, their leadership skills and their fundamentals in the classroom,” Salisbury Principal Dr. Windsor Eagle said. “I think it’s a marvelous thing.”
Eagle said students will be divided up into three groups and move through stations.
Each student will take part in battalions where they’ll learn military drills, classroom orientation and an academic work stations where they can brush up on reading, writing and math.
“One big point is that students do not have to go into JROTC after this, there is no obligation,” Eagle said.
Eagle said he got the idea for the mentoring program from the school’s 9 Up program, which helps students transition from middle to high school.
“The program has been very successful, but we felt like if we started the program earlier we may not have to run 9 Up at all because the students would be so much more ready, so much more prepared,” he said.
The JROTC mentoring program will kick off every day with a formation at 8 a.m. for the raising of the American flag.
Participation in the program is free. Each student will receive a uniform of two shirts and a pair of shorts as well as breakfast and lunch each day.
Transportation will also be provided to and from the program’s home at Knox Middle School.
The program, funded by a $16,620 grant from the Robertson Family Foundation, will begin July 5 and run through July 21.
Staff from Salisbury High will administer the program with assistant principal Chris McNeil is in charge.
There are still slots available for students in all three grade levels. Those interested in participating can fill out at an application at Salisbury High or Knox Middle.
For more information, call Salisbury High at 704-636-1221.
Contact reporter Sarah Campbell at 704-797-7683.