The cadets of Michigan City High School (MCHS) Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (MCJROTC) overcame the absences of experienced cadets and earned awards at a military drill competition at East Aurora High School in Aurora, IL on Saturday, January 13, 2018. Due to a snow storm, some cadets could not make it to MCHS for the trip to Aurora. Still, the Color Guard finished second, the Armed Basic Platoon came in fourth, and the Armed Exhibition Platoon earned a fifth place finished out of the 19 schools. The Color Guard was commanded by Cadet Gunnery Sergeant Griffin Williams and both platoons were commanded by Cadet First Lieutenant Tyler Stockley.
“Some of our first year cadets really stepped up to replace the experienced cadets who were absent,” said Senior Marine Instructor Major Tom McGrath. “For them to compete in a meet with so many good schools and earn awards is really a testament to the hard work they have put into practice since September.
Master Sergeant Jeff Benak echoed McGrath’s praises for the younger cadets as well as the performance of the entire team. “We do not have the numbers that many of the other schools whom we compete against have, but our cadets work very hard at practice to improve, and that showed today with the contributions that our younger cadets made to our team.”
Some of the cadets on the drill team will transition into being cyber warriors, as they compete in the third round of Cyber Patriot on Friday, January 19. Cyber Patriot is the national cyber competition for high school students who act as a cyber security manager for a corporation, defending and counter attacking against an attack on the corporation’s information system. The drill team will travel to the middle schools on January 17 for presentations to the 8th grade classes prior to those students scheduling their freshman year high school courses. The drill team will also be providing Color Guards for three basketball games on January 23, 26, and 27. The team’s next competition is the Chicagoland Meet on February 3, 2018 in Arlington Heights, IL.