When she participated in the ROTC mast camp at the S.C. National Guard's training center at Clarks Hill in the summer of 2008, Sybille Smith found it pretty intense and scary for the first day or so.
She and other Naval Junior ROTC cadets were yelled at and challenged constantly by actual National Guard sergeants about following rules and meeting goals throughout the week.
Now a South Aiken High junior and assistant platoon leader, Smith reacted to the five-day camp by doing it again this summer, joined by senior Zackary Furr. He returned to the camp for the third time.
"We just love it," said Smith. "It's fun, and after the first day, it gets a lot better."
A total of 155 cadets from 12 schools participated in the leadership program this summer - including those from South Aiken, Aiken, Midland Valley, North Augusta and Silver Bluff high schools. Among them were Aiken High senior cadet and officer Richard Rule and his sister Annamarie, a sophomore.
"It was a lot of fun doing it together and competing against each other," said Richard. "It really is like the National Guard there."
Most of the participants have completed their first year of ROTC, said South Aiken commander Larry Laughlin. They get basic leadership training, military drill, Ropes courses, orienteering and some seamanship opportunities.
"One thing we see is the confidence that it brings them," Laughlin said. "At graduation (at camp), they can look back and see some things they did that they didn't think they could do. It has an impact on our whole program."
The camp provides a different kind of leadership experience, said Aiken High commander, Tony Negron. Typically, his own cadet commanding officers started on that path through the mast camp, he said,
In the previous two years at camp, Zackary Furr promised himself he would never go back. But as summer approached, he always found himself drawn back to Clarks Hill.
"I like the teamwork and seeing so many other kids from the area," Furr said. "Team-building is very important to the camp, and if you don't work as a team, you don't get it all done."
Furr served as a platoon commander at camp, while Smith was in charge of the females in her platoon.
"That taught me a lot more about leadership, that you have to be a good follower to be a leader," said Smith. "I learned some good things to bring back to South Aiken."
Annamarie Rule said the platoons would rotate the evening watch, with cadets taking two-hour shifts during the night. She credited Midland Valley senior chief Horace Sweat for helping out one night.
"He made a huge pot of coffee and brought it to us," she said with a smile.
Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.
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