West Virginia Executive Spring 2021 June 2021 | Page 37

Training Future Leaders

West Virginia National Guard Program Promotes Personal Success

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High school students across the state have a lot on their shoulders . Not only do they have to focus on their studies while participating in extracurricular activities , maintain a social life and determine what their futures will be , they have also had to navigate life in a global pandemic for the last year along with the structural changes it has brought .
According to David Eldridge , manager of the West Virginia National Guard ’ s ( WVNG ) Future Leaders Program ( FLP ), a leadership-based high school curriculum program that launched in August 2019 , a lot can change almost overnight for this group .
“ In many cases , we have students who are seniors . That means in a few months , they are legally on their own . Nobody has any responsibility for them ,” he says . “ That is a harsh reality , but they need to be ready for life . For freshmen , in less than four years — and that goes by really quick — they will potentially be on their own .”
The FLP is helping these young West Virginians navigate this period in their lives by teaching them how to be personally responsible and prepare for their future careers — while also determining what those careers will be — in an effort to build the state ’ s future workforce .
KRISTEN UPPERCUE WEST VIRGINIA NATIONAL GUARD
A Proven Model
Prior to the FLP ’ s start in 2019 , the West Virginia Legislature would often approach the WVNG asking how to expand the U . S . Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps .’ ( JROTC ) character development and citizenship program to schools throughout the state . The WVNG team discovered that JROTC was not expanding in the state and was instead moving to more populated areas to serve more students , leaving rural schools behind . Of the 181 public schools in the state , 28 currently have a JROTC program .
“ If you look at schools with JROTC , there are benefits to the school as a whole . You would think , obviously , the kids enrolled in it would be better off , but what Cadet Command has realized is that influence actually bleeds over into the surrounding students as well ,” says Eldridge .
During the 2019-2020 school year , which was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic , five counties in West Virginia participated
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