The Michigan City High School (MCHS) Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (MCJROTC) competed in a Raider Competition on October 14th. The competition was hosted by Hobart High School Army JROTC. 11 other teams participated, all of them Army except for Portage High School, which is also Marine.
The events were: a fitness challenge that involved dragging a tire, carrying a football tackling dummy, and carrying water cans in a 100 meter course; moving tires over 100 meters; a stretcher carry combined with negotiating obstacles over a mile course; a buddy carry for 35 yards that was repeated for 10 minutes; and a 2.5 mile run. Final scoring results were not immediately available.
The team, composed of 7 males and 3 females, were very fatigued at the end of the physically demanding competition. Additionally, they had to deal with two big downpours, the second of which came during the 2.5 mile run.
“These 10 cadets showed much grit and determination,” said Senior Marine Instructor Major Tom McGrath. “Additionally, they are some of the most involved students in our school. They are all on our military drill team. 4 of them shoot on our air rifle team, and 4 are on our Cyber Patriot team. They also have accumulated many hour community service.”
Master Sergeant Jeff Benak echoed McGrath’s comments on the dedication of the cadets on the Raider team. “It takes great time-management skills to be able to balance all of these extracurricular activities and still keep up with their school work. They really set a great example for the other students in our school.”
The Wolves next competition will October 28th at Portage. MCHS will host a military skills competition on November 18th involving 10 schools. In addition to that event, the cadets will be busy supporting Veterans Day events in November, to include MCHS’s Veterans Day Ceremony in the MCHS gym at 1:30 pm on November 10th. This ceremony will honor all veterans and their respective service during the ceremony. The public is invited.