The Michigan City High School (MCHS) Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (MCJROTC) earned first place trophies at the Purdue University ROTC Military Drill Competition in West Lafayette on December 9, 2017. The Wolves defeated East Aurora (Aurora, IL), Ben Davis and Pike High Schools (Indianapolis) in the Armed Platoon and Unarmed Platoon categories. Those schools have enrollments between 3500 and 4000 students. East Aurora is also the largest JROTC in the world (there are JROTCs at military bases overseas) with 700 cadets. MCHS enrollment is approximately 1600, with 98 cadets. The Armed Platoon was commanded by Cadet Lieutenant Tyler Stockley and the Unarmed platoon was commanded by Cadet Captain James Steinhagen.
“This is a great tribute to our cadets’ hard work and dedication to be able to finish ahead of really good drill teams like East Aurora and Ben Davis,” said Senior Marine Instructor Major Tom McGrath. This is the first time we have beaten both of those schools.”
Master Sergeant Jeff Benak was also complimentary of the cadets’ performance but also acknowledged the cadets need to improve. “Our cadets performed well at Purdue, but we have very competitive meets coming up at East Aurora, Chicagoland and Pike. We must continue to work hard and improve, because the competition only gets tougher.”
The East Aurora meet is January 13th. The cadets will be supporting the One City One Sound Concert on December 14th, the Wreaths Across America Ceremony on December 16th, several Salvation Army functions before Christmas, as well as providing Color Guards for the home basketball games.