These ROTC Students Are Learning More Than Leadership

The Junior ROTC students at Franklin High School in El Paso, Texas, are  learning to lead. But their teacher, Major Joseph D. Shamy, noticed something worrisome: “School in general wasn’t preparing them to be adults in the real world.”

Many had never fixed a bike tire, or even been allowed to iron their clothes, because the iron is hot. 

When he read about The Let Grow Experience in The Anxious Generation Shamy realized: Here was a way to get them on track.

The Experience is a homework assignment that asks kids to go home and do something new, on their own, with their parents’ permission – but without their parents. 

In high school ROTC, says Shamy, “The students learn problem-solving, leadership skills and work in community service projects.” He even taught his 55 students how to use a compass. And he has them getting in shape. 

But they weren’t doing the everyday activities of adulting.

“With Let Grow, one thing I wanted to do was to make sure they’re ready to be functioning adults,” Shamy said. For example, if a button falls off of a uniform, he wanted to make sure they could sew it back on. Some had not been allowed to touch the sewing kit.

So he gave his students the choice of three different options: Sew on a button, change a tire (bike or car), or wash and iron their uniform. 

“In addition,” he told me, “they’re also going to present it to the class. They’re going to make a step-by-step with their own pictures – not AI – and they’re going to explain why they picked the project and how it can help them accomplish other items. For example, if you’re afraid of poking yourself with a needle, or filling your house with bubbles like in the cartoons…” Well, here’s where reality hits the road.

Another Shamy requirement: The students had to teach somebody else – a little brother or cousin – how to do that task, “because that’ll show true mastery.” And finally, he added, even the class presentation  would teach them another skill: Public speaking.

“We’re a Title 1 [high poverty] school,” said Shamy, “so there are a lot of working parents. It was just some of those touch points I wanted them to learn.”

Being part of the ROTC program does not obligate kids to join the military upon graduation, but those who enroll in the program for two years or more can enlist at a higher rank. 

When the kids finished their Let Grow Experiences, Shamy emailed us their presentations. There were a whole lot of buttons being sewn, like this!

And this:

But perhaps most impressive was this presentation by student Gerardo Montes of how to change a tire:

And here’s a young man who passed along his newfound skills:

Why did Shamy so desperately want these kids to succeed not just as students and ROTC members but soon-to-be adults?

“I was in ROTC right here when I was 14 or 15,” he says. “I learned to iron and shine my shoes. I learned sewing before that.” He went on to have a career in cybersecurity before returning to Franklin to give back.

And get a new generation ready for the world.

Let Grow here: Love these ideas for getting kids out into the real world, making their own fun! If you’d like more ideas, check out our free program, “The Let Grow Summer Experience”