Mobile County’s JROTC STEM Leadership Academy, which has spread to schools across the country, has positively impacted more than 1,300 cadets in Mobile over the past 10 years and has been implemented in 11 additional school districts nationwide.
The six-day residential academy, held in June, immerses students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) activities, workforce development opportunities, and JROTC Cadet leadership tasks, including rappelling, drownproofing and orienteering.
The theme for the 2025 academy, held on the campus of Spring Hill College, was “Land, Air and Water.” Students lived on the campus for the week. Activities included visits to regional maritime organizations, including Alabama Shipyard, the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Mobile, the University of South Alabama's WAVE Center, and MAWSS, where they learned about many STEM-related career paths available in the maritime industry.
“The STEM Academy showcases how students meet the requirements of our JROTC Cadet Leadership Challenge combined with the strategic goals of both MCPSS and JROTC,” said Lt. Col. Chevelle Thomas, Director of Army Instruction at MCPSS.
“You could not ask for a better combination to demonstrate all the hard work that the cadets have done during their tenure in the JROTC program, and to showcase what our student cadets can achieve.”
Throughout the week, students worked in teams to apply STEM concepts related to maritime operations. Each team faced challenges and competitions that required them to research, design, experiment, and present solutions.
Under the leadership of Lt. Col. Robert “Frank” Barrow, MCPSS launched the first JROTC STEM Leadership Academy in 2015. Its success led to the academy gaining a grant of $1 million from the National Science Foundation in 2018 to continue the program in Mobile. In 2021, the academy received a grant of nearly $6 million from the Department of Defense to expand the camp to other schools throughout the U.S.
The Leadership Academy model has been replicated at 11 school districts in seven states, with Mobile serving as the national demonstration site. Here are the additional districts and the years they began:
2022: Pike County, Alabama
2023: Atlanta Public Schools; San Diego Unified School District
2024: Lee County, Florida; Savannah-Chatom County, Georgia; Mesquite
Independent School District, Texas
2025: Dallas Independent School District; Denver Public Schools; NE Independent School District, San Antonio; School District of Philadelphia; San Francisco United School District
“I am very proud that our Leadership Academy represents not only Mobile and the state of Alabama, but the entire United States as the standard bearer of how a hybrid camp brings together STEM-related fields,” Lt. Col. Thomas said.
“To hear current and former JROTC student cadets talk about their experience at the Academy during their high school careers and after graduation and how the overall JROTC program has impacted their lives on a personal level is truly astonishing.”