Lincoln Le oozes leadership. The senior at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek is the JROTC battalion commander, in charge of 186 cadets.
"Squad: attention!" Lincoln barks, as the cadets fall into line for uniform inspection, one of the duties he occasionally performs during the school day.
"I want to be their role model, I want them to be able to look at me and be like, yes, this is how I should act, how I should dress and this is what I could do for the battalion," Lincoln said.
Lincoln is one of the top JROTC students in the country. He was awarded the Legion of Valor Bronze Cross, which signifies excellence in military affairs, academics, and civic involvement. Only 72 students nationwide, out of a possible 480,000, receive the award.
Lincoln has a 5.03 GPA and he's been president of his class all four years at Monarch High.
"I just have the ambition to always be involved, to be action-oriented and to have a say in everything," Lincoln explained.
"When he was a freshman,he was voted likely to become battalion commander and he got it," said Colonel Jimmy Hall, the JROTC program director. "He was also voted likely to become president at last year's military ball, so I'm waiting on that!"
Local
Colonel Hall was talking about president of the United States.
After all, Lincoln is named after Abe Lincoln, so maybe destiny is at work here?
"President Lincoln Le, that'd be awesome!" Lincoln said, laughing. "Now that I think about it, I do see it as a self-fulfilling prophecy, I want to be able to go to Washington, DC, so I can help bring change to the community and to the nation as a whole."
Lincoln's friends and peers have no doubt he will live up to his name.
"He's a role model, has great grades, taking rigorous classes, he's getting to go to pretty much any college he wants right now," said Brenden Horn, a JROTC cadet.
"The perfect example of what a student leader is," added Jennifer Sobrinho, the student government president. "Kids walk around and they immediately know who Lincoln is, if they have any questions, he's always the go-to guy."
The "go-to guy" is the first voice students hear in the morning. Lincoln does the announcements every day. He says he's always trying to expand his horizons.
"Advice that I would give to cadets in JROTC and even to students in general is definitely try new things, I wasn't keen on joining JROTC until I actually did and it got me to where I am now," said Lincoln.
And he would say the discipline he learned in JROTC will take him to where he's going next.
As the colonel said, this young man's potential is limitless.
