Students at Plant City High School are on their way to the state JROTC contest. Though it demands long hours, the students all say the program has changed their lives.
Students at Plant City High School are once again proving their preeminence as members of the JROTC program conquered at their area drill meet and began preparations for the state competition on April 7.
This is not the first time PCHS has represented at the state competition, nor will it be the last, according to Lisveth Trejo, the commander of the color guard. She said, at PCHS, they refuse to settle for a good routine or an average performance. If they’re going to compete they will give it everything they have. It’s simply who they are.
“We had been practicing every day for at least two hours before Spring Break,” Trejo said. “What’s important to remember is all of us are involved in some way on another JROTC team. We divided time with color guard and other things.”
Though the students all originally walked through the doors for different reasons, they found a home in the JROTC community. Giving up hours of their time each week is hardly a sacrifice as the teams practice in hopes of perfecting their skills.
When the big day came, the color guard members didn’t even have a moment to run through their routine before they had to perform. Because they were all on other teams, they had to rely on their weeks of practice to give the judges a practically perfect run.
Abigail Holcomb, a member of color guard, and Adamaris Mendoza, a color guard member and the commander of the dual exhibition team, said the heavy winds on the day of the competition added another layer of pressure to the performance.
“We could see our veins popping out of our arms as we fought to not let the wind ruin the routine,” Mandoza said. “Our team was there cheering us on.”
Trejo said when they first stepped into their box, she knew they had a winning routine. Her intuition proved to be
correct as the they were awarded second place and sent on to states.
“With everything we do, we do it together,” Trejo said. “If we fail together, we fail together. If we win together, we win together. We’re a team through it all.”
The dual exhibition team also paved the way to state, though its routine was far more spontaneous than the color guard’s. As the competition drew near, Mendoza decided three days in advance that they wanted to enter the contest. She and her teammate, Carlos Moreno, had been tossing the rifles back and forth and realized they had a chance at qualifying.
After intense cramming, Mendoza, crafted a routine she hoped would wow the judges. Right before the competition, however, she was hit with a wave of doubt. Though it was merely hours until they performed, she and Moreno revamped their entire routine.
“There were so many bruises and lots of scratches and blood,” Mendoza said. “We use nine-pound rifles and it can get a bit rough. We both had other events to worry about, so we just threw everything we had into the routine. I had made some jokes about making it to state, but Carlos really believed we could. He was definitely the optimist.”
The camaraderie boosts self-confidence in the young students and Madison Moua, a member of color guard, said it was the reason she came out of her shell.
“Freshman year, I was silent and never talked until I took a leadership position,” Moua said. “I thought JROTC was
only about a career in the military, but it’s not. It’s based on being a citizen and teaching students to be the best person they can.”
Trejo said several of her fellow students have quit or rescheduled their jobs so that they can dedicate more time to the program, which she said is a testament to its influence.
“We do things in JROTC that students don’t normally do, but people don’t know that,” Trejo said. “We listen to our superiors, some who are also our friends. We are becoming better people through this program and because our building is so secluded from the rest of the school, sometimes I think people really don’t see that.”
