Junction City High School has many different programs for its diverse students and the JROTC (Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps)  program is one of them. Within JROTC are sub-teams such as Raiders, Marksmanship, and Drill Team. Drill Team has two main divisions, armed and unarmed, which can both be divided into even more smaller factions such as Exhibition and Color Guard.

On January 26th, Sergeant Nieves and the Drill Team competed in a meet in Council Bluffs, IA and earned 2nd place overall. They took home trophies for two 1st place awards in Armed Exhibition and New Cadet, and two 3rd place awards in Unarmed Exhibition and Color Guard.

Cadets have been working very hard every morning from 6 to 8 am to get them in shape and prepared for competition. Some cadets, like junior Magdalena Solis, were unsurprised at how well the team did considering how hard everyone worked.

“Everyone was really good at practice so for us to have placed, I expected that,” Solis said.

It was a very long day for everyone as the cadets departed from the school that morning at 2:00 AMto make the drive to Iowa. However, the trip was definitely worth it in the end when the team made runner-up.

“My favorite part was when we placed first in Armed Exhibition,” said Elisabeth Roe, one of the color guard commanders. “Everyone was freaking out.”

The Drill Team’s next meet will be on February 16th in Sedalia, MO. The teams plan to improve before their next competition

“We’re going to focus a lot on regulation, marching because I think we can do a lot better,” said Sergeant Nieves.

The Drill Team has high expectations for the rest of the season and the school’s senior army instructor, Lieutenant Richard R. Hodgson has a lot of respect for them.

“There is no other school activity here that requires the amount of teamwork and discipline as our drill team does,” Hodgson said.