Photo By Scott Thornbloom | ZION, Ill. (February 26, 2022) – Retired U. S. Navy Capt. Tim Daseler (right), Naval...... read more read more
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ZION, Ill. (February 26, 2022) – “It’s like a miracle,” was overheard a few times when the Wheeling (Illinois) High School Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) unit was named the champion of the 2022 NJROTC Area 3 West Regional Academic, Athletic and Drill Competition at Zion-Benton Township High School, Feb. 26.
“This is like a miracle,” said retired Culinary Specialist Senior Chief Jermaine Cotillier, Wheeling NJROTC Navy Science Instructor (NSI). “It’s awesome! It’s like David versus Goliath, the USA Hockey Team (gold medal team from the 1980 Olympics) and any underdog scenario!”
The northwest Chicago suburban high school won the annual competition for the first time in 20 years and they had to overcome a couple “Goliaths” – Zion and East Aurora (Illinois) High Schools.
This year the “Zee-Bees” from Zion were the runner-ups. The East Aurora “Tomcats” came in third. The “Sea Dragons” from Hyman G. Rickover Naval Academy (Chicago) High School and the “Trail Blazers” from Bloom Trail (Chicago Heights, Illinois) High School finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Previously Zion has dominated regionals winning nine championships in the 17 years they have hosted the event, including three years in a row from 2018-2020. Last year the Area 3 Regionals were held virtually at NJROTC units across the country due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic school lockdowns. Other past wins (eight) were captured by East Aurora or other Area 3 schools over the same 17-year period.
“I knew our kids were good, and with a good strategy I hoped we might place fifth or even fourth, but first place really was shocking,” retired U. S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Wayne Beyer, Jr., the Senior Navy Science Instructor (SNSI), said.
Beyer, who took over as Wheeling’s SNSI last year, gave his unit all the credit for their dedication, study and training to get ready for the regionals.
According to retired U. S. Navy commander Steve Schulte, SNSI of the Zion NJROTC unit, hosting the Area 3 regionals this year had some challenges because of the pandemic.
“I thought the A3 West Meet went well considering all the challenges faced by the COVID restrictions placed on the competing schools this year,” Schulte said “Every school has had a different set of guidelines, which made organizing a competition that accommodated everyone a little bit difficult. Many instructors stepped up to help make it happen.”
More than 400 cadets from 13 Navy Junior ROTC units, 12 units from Illinois (mostly the Chicago area) and one unit from Nebraska (Papillion-La Vista High School), participated in the two-day event. A new unit from Crete, Illinois (Crete-Monee High School) made their first appearance at the Area 3 West regionals.
The units competed in eight events for points. The academic testing was worth a total of 1,000 points for each participating unit. Each drill event (Color Guard, Unarmed Individual Drill Routine [IDR], Unarmed Exhibition, Armed IDR, and Armed Exhibition) was worth 400 points. The personnel inspection was worth 1,500 points and the physical fitness competition (curl ups, pushups and the shuttle run relay) was worth 750 points.
Wheeling’s upset victory was one of the closest Area 3 regional competitions in a number of years. The “Wildcat Battalion” finished first in three events and Zion finished first in five events. However, Wheeling won the three events with the biggest point totals – academic, personnel inspection and color guard to racking up 2,900 points. They also finished second in the athletic events, collecting another 708 points. Along with finishing second in Armed IDR and fifth in Unarmed IDR and Armed Exhibition, they managed to amass 4,953.42 total points. Zion tallied 4,901.60 points, East Aurora collected 4,698.27, Rickover totaled 4,654.70 while Bloom Trail finished with 4,125.66 total points (overall trophies were handed out to the top five units).
“It means the world to me being one of the co-captains of the unit that just won regionals,” said Cadet Commanding Officer, Lt. Cmdr. Daniela Chihuahua, 18, a senior at Wheeling. “I think the lieutenant colonel (Beyer) really guided us well. He’s the one that gave us this crazy idea we could compete with confidence in all the events, including the (armed and unarmed) exhibition competitions, which we weren’t very good competing in this year. But we started practicing every morning before school for an hour-and-a-half and that’s what got us to this place. It’s mind-blowing knowing we now get to compete at nationals. It’s such an honor and I’m just very happy.”
Cadet Seaman Apprentice Stephanie Solano, 16, a Wheeling sophomore, could hardly believe the upset win by her unit.
“It feels awesome! We were looked at as underdogs, but we put in a lot of hard work and we surprised everyone! It’s just amazing! This is my first year in NJROTC and this really feels great and makes me want to keep going”
The entire drill competition and athletic events were held in the Zion-Benton High School Field House or on the “Zee-Bee” basketball court. The academic test covering Navy and Marine Corps knowledge was held in one of the cafeterias at the school.
According to retired U. S. Navy Capt. Tim Daseler, Naval Service Training Command (NSTC) Deputy Commander for NJROTC Operations, the event was very impressive and the high school venue and Zion NJROTC staff were excellent hosting the regionals.
“I couldn’t be more impressed,” Daseler said. “I’m really thrilled to see all of our instructors and cadets out and about that haven’t had the opportunity because of the COVID Pandemic.”
Daseler handed out trophies and medals to the cadets and units at an awards ceremony shortly following the last event.
“NJROTC is very important for NSTC, he said. “The admiral (Rear Adm. Jennifer Couture, NSTC commander) just mentioned in her update to NETC (Naval Education and Training Command) how thrilled she was to visit (units) and how much she values what (NJROTC) contributes to the country overall. I’m thrilled that senior leaders are recognizing the diversity and potential to impact future generations this program provides. Our kids are a cut above and they do better in every area – academics, performance at school and discipline. They’re just good kids because they are mentored by great (NSI) instructors.”
In addition, more than 25 RTC staff, recruit division commanders (RDCs), instructors and division officers volunteered their time to judge the event. For the RTC staff, especially the RDCs, being a judge provides additional opportunities to use their drill knowledge and to mentor and mold future citizens.
“These men and women are amazing,” Schulte said. “Not only are they experts in evaluating drill events, but they also serve as inspiring role models for our NJROTC cadets. We cannot thank them enough for volunteering to spend most of their weekend to give our cadets a meaningful experience.”
The other units involved in this year’s regional included: Bloom Township (Chicago Heights, Illinois) High School; Freeport (Illinois) High School; Proviso East (Maywood, Illinois) High School; Proviso West (Hillside, Illinois) High School; Harold L. Richards (Oak Lawn, Illinois) High School and William Howard Taft (Chicago) High School.
“I can’t say enough about our parents and staff volunteers that year-after-year step up to run concessions, hospitality, scoring, and other meet requirements. We really couldn’t do this without them. We have one parent, Sue Melvin that has been organizing concessions for the Area Drill Meet and our annual Stinger Drill Meet every year for over fifteen years! Her son graduated from our program fourteen years ago, went to the Naval Academy, and is a lieutenant commander (today) in the Navy,” Schulte added.
The Wheeling unit travels next to Florida to compete in the 2022 Navy JROTC Academic, Athletic and Drill Championship on board Naval Air Station Pensacola, April 1-2.
NJROTC and Navy National Defense Cadet Corps units operate at 643 high schools around the world with more than 78,000 cadets participating. In Area 3, there are more than 50 units across 13 Midwest state from New York to Nebraska.
In addition to regular classroom instruction, NJROTC and NNDCC cadets participate in extra-curricular activities throughout the school year and during the summer months designed to stimulate learning by hands-on experiences and to reinforce the program’s curriculum. Cadet extra-curricular activities include community service projects, drill competitions, academic competitions, visits to naval installations, and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) training.
The NSTC commander, Rear Adm. Couture, and her staff, headquartered on Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois, oversee 98 percent of initial officer and enlisted accessions training for the Navy. Along with NJROTC/NNDCC, NSTC also oversees and supports the Naval ROTC program, Officer Training Command (OTC) on Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island and RTC, the Navy’s only boot camp, also at Naval Station Great Lakes.
For more information about NJROTC/NNDCC, visit https://www.netc.navy.mil/NSTC/NJROTC/.
| Date Taken: | 02.26.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.04.2022 19:37 |
| Story ID: | 415834 |
| Location: | ZION, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 1,139 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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