The Bogalusa High School U.S. Army Jr. ROTC Battalion sent nine cadets to the JROTC Cadet Leadership Challenge (JCLC) from June 3-8 at Camp Shelby in Mississippi.

The JCLC is a U.S. Army Program that provides cadets an opportunity to practice leadership skills, team building and adventure training in a hands-on military environment. Training activities normally consist of physical training, competitive athletic events, water safety training/canoeing, land navigation, rappelling, leadership reaction course, casualty evacuation course and a visit to the Camp Shelby Museum.

JCLC has approximately 400-plus cadets in attendance, who are organized into four Companies — Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta. Cadets gain valuable leadership experience as they rotate through various leadership positions within the Companies.

All nine Lumberjack Battalion cadets successfully completed JCLC and performed well above the standard. The 2018 JCLC participants were cadets Tommy Duong, Shawn Saucier, Deonte Harris, Dre’toris Mark, Cindy Duong, Lena Glover, Jaliyah Jackson, Jermeria Miller and Lakeitha Dunn.

Cadet Tommy Duong was selected as the Best Cadet in Alpha Company, cadets Jaliyah Jackson and Deonte Harris were members of the Bravo Company that was selected as JCLC Honor Company, and Jackson was awarded the Bravo Company Physical Fitness Top Female Award.

The highly important lessons learned that the cadets experienced at JCLC in reference to leadership skills, team building, physical fitness and living a value-based life, will be applied by the cadets during this upcoming school year as all nine cadets will be in important leadership positions within the Battalion.

Congratulations to the 2018 JCLC Cadets, our community is proud of you!