ROTC Shines at Prestigous Competition
April 16, 2009 • written by Cadet Rebecca Willenbring
For months, we had practiced for this one moment. The Fargo Drill Competition is the most prestigious JROTC competition in the upper Midwest. We, the cadets of Park High School AFJROTC, were now ready.
Our journey began at 8:30 AM on Friday, the 27th of February. The long bus ride lasted over 5 hours, which cadets spent studying inspection questions, having fun, or catching some “Z”s. We eventually arrived at the National Guard base for the athletic portion of the competition. The PT competition consists of timed Pull-ups, crunches, a shuttle run, and a long jump. After the main events, we took part in a Tug-of-War and a Dodgeball tournament. Though we held our own in both games, we did not place in the tournament. When the competition culminated for the day, we took off to the Golden Corral, a massive buffet, where we recovered from PT. We then retired to the barracks at the Air Force Reserve Base where we prepared for the challenges ahead the next morning.
After packing our bags again, we confirmed all our uniform items were in order and headed to breakfast. After our meal, we rushed to Fargo South High School, where the main drill competition was being held. We unloaded our equipment and prepared for what was going to be a busy day. With three color guards and a drill team competing in six events, we struggled to keep up with our demanding schedule. After the main competitions were over, every cadet from every school fell in to compete in Knockout Drill, essentially a military version of Simon Says. After Knockout, Several schools put on a show of Exhibition Drill, an entertaining drill sequence made to show off precision and skill.
Our nervousness peaked at the awards ceremony. Every school’s unit fell into formation, eager to hear their school called up to receive the trophy they had trained so hard to earn. As the winners of the events were called up, the cadets of MN-871 were on the edge, waiting to hear their school called for a trophy. We left with our heads held high, earning third place in Varsity Color Guard, Second place in Varsity Drill, and our Junior Varsity Color Guard earned first place. Trophies in hand, we packed our uniforms and headed home, basking in the glory of our victories at this very prestigious competition.
Loading ...
Comments
Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!