On Jan. 6, the school’s JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps) competed at a regional competition in San Antonio. The team proved to be successful. The two competing representative teams qualified for the regional level competition after earning 1st place at the HISD level competition. Senior Cadet Major Nazar Hassan describes the performance of the team in individual events.

“We placed 6th in our color guard, 3rd in inspection, 3rd in regulation, and 2nd in exhibition,” said Hassan. “And over in San Antonio every school is really good. Overall, we got 3rd place within the armed division of the competition.”

Senior Cadet 1st Lieutenant Miguel Arellano who worked on the synchronization of the team talked about the performance of the unarmed division. Arellano is on the armed division but is aware of the other division’s scores.

“For the unarmed, they had the same routine with the only exception being the lack of rifles,” said Arellano. “They placed 16th. I know that in inspection they received 13th and regulation they received 4th and exhibition they received 1st place. Overall they received 9th.”

JROTC drill teams began their preparations last summer with the intention of doing well at the regionals. The students were determined that this year they would be in top form at the competition, as they had felt underprepared the previous year. Senior Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Jose Flores explained the progress that occurred between the past school year and this year.

“Last year was our first year,” said Flores. “We came in there inexperienced basically and this year was different. Last year we felt we could have been better, so this year we pushed ourselves more. We focused on the things we should have focused on last year.”

The drill teams, composed of 17 members each on the armed and unarmed teams, stayed after school until 5 p.m. five days a week, and returned on Saturday mornings for another four hours in order to be fully prepared. In the summer, they met on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, for four hours. In order to do well in the qualifying HISD competition, the team prepared nonstop, even during the breaks.

“For the competition we have in HISD we swept it and got 1st,” said Arellano. “For service we got 1st in our inspection, regulation, exhibition and 2nd in color guard. Then we basically didn’t take days off. We practiced during Thanksgiving Break and Winter Break for regionals.”

Describing what activity was the favorite of individual members, and Hassan described the community. He joined in his freshman year, so he had spent a lot of time with his fellow members.

“My favorite part of being in JROTC has to be the teams and it has to be the new friends you make in JROTC because when you are in a lot of teams, then you meet a lot of people you don’t know,” said Hassan. “So as you practice and go on through the day, and through the months and through the years, you meet a whole lot of people and make a whole lot of friendships.”