Churchill selected to attend summer camp
May 31, 2012 3:42PM
Melissa Churchill, pictured here accepting a first-place trophy during a recent drill competition, was selected for an all-expense-paid trip to San Diego. | Supplied Photo
Updated: July 6, 2012 8:37AM
Melissa Churchill, who serves as the cadet commanding officer for the NJROTC unit at Bloom Trail High School, is one of 160 cadets selected nationwide to attend a Navy-sponsored camp this summer in San Diego, Calif.
The entire trip will be funded by the Navy Junior ROTC program office in Pennsacola, Fla. The camp is the nationwide science, technology, engineering and mathematics camp at the University of San Diego.
Camp officials said the purpose of the seminar is to place the cadets in a college environment with a college-type curriculum in order to spur their interest in continuing their education following high school and to possibly pursue a future in the Navy.
Cadets will make large Styrofoam shoes, which they will use to try and walk on water. They also will build a catapult to accurately fire tennis balls, program a robot to complete a maze, design a key chain with a computer-aided design program, and learn how to use an object-oriented programming language called “Alice.”
Churchill is a junior at Bloom Trail and will be the NJROTC commanding cadet again in the fall. She said her career goal is to attend a military college and then enter the service as a naval officer.
Provided to the SouthtownStar
