Los Alamos High School NJROTC News

Los Alamos High School NJROTC cadets participate in the annual Sail Academy this summer at Cochiti Lake. Courtesy photo

NJROTC News:

The summer has been full of activities for the Los Alamos High School’s Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps.

First, six LAHS cadets participated in the 2017 Area 9 West Sail Academy June 11-16 at Cochiti Lake: Austin Estrada, Andres Vigil, Richard Thompson, Ryan Garcia, Stephen Gulley, and Andrea Soto, the only female cadet from LAHS. They started with sailing terminology, knot tying, and points of sail and ended in team competitions including racing 14 foot Laser and 24 foot J-24 sailboats. Cadets from several schools in New Mexico and Colorado participated in the leadership and teamwork camp developing knowledge and skills necessary to culminate in a timed knot tying competition, a Laser rigging competition, and, of course, racing on the water in both boat classes.

Los Alamos cadets Austin Estrada and Richard Thompson were the first place Laser team beating six other teams in two heats to win. Los Alamos cadet Andres Vigil was part of the second place knot tying team. Estrada and Thompson also took third place in the knot tying competition and were part of the overall first place team.

Three cadets, Richard Thompson, Caden Cionek, and Jacob Thompson, attended Basic Leadership Training (BLT). The BLT program instills in cadets the core ideas and skills such as marching, basic drill, and the ideas of honor, courage, and commitment.

Additionally, cadets participated in the New Mexico drill workshop July 18-20 in Albuquerque at Cibola High School. The workshop consisted of three days of high-intensity training that covered all phases of drill team competition: Regulation, Inspection, Color Guard, and Exhibition. Cadets who participated were Austin Estrada, Andres Vigil, Andrea Soto, Keira Wisdom, Caden Cionek, Stephen Gulley, Tanner Peterson, David Benner, Issac Vasquez, and Mattie Wisdom.

In the 2016-2017 school year the Los Alamos High School cadets earned honors at the JROTC New Mexico state completion: 1st in Inspection (led by Andres Vigil), 2nd Armed in Regulation Drill (led by Andres Vigil), 3rd in Armed Exhibition Drill (led by Austin Estrada), 3rd Female Physical Fitness Team (Andrea Soto, Samantha Miller, Janayah Weahkee, Dolores Collins), 3rd in Male Color Guard (Andres Vigil, Austin Estrada, Phoenix Rogers, Richard Thompson).

The cadets are preparing for an exciting year, with drill practice to resume in a few weeks and are looking to expand in hopes of competition at the National level. Specifically, the unit would like to build Unarmed Regulation and Unarmed Exhibition Drill Teams and an all-female Color Guard team.

Having this wide array of teams allows LAHS NJROTC to be competitive in the all-around unit awards as points are awarded for each event and add up to a cumulative score. Additionally, for the first time in the unit’s history, 8th graders are being allowed to participate on teams and must fulfill conduct and practice requirements. For more information, contact Sam Wisdom at 803.335.6860.

 

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