Tinian High tops Pacific JROTC competition

Tinian High School’s Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps bested 36 others to emerge as this year’s winner in the recently held 13th Brigade Cadet Command academic competition.

The event drew high school JROTC teams from throughout the Pacific region.

The champion group, composed of cadets Patrick Diaz, Alisha Shrestha, Carl Lou Espinosa, and Chelsea Manglona, garnered an outstanding score of 94 percent during the online academic challenge held in January.

Hailed as the second best team was the CNMI’s Marianas High School with a score of 86 percent. Team members included cadets Necita Aldan, Liezel Cristobal, Chris Devino, and Tristan Garcia.

This year marked the second annual competition hosted by the 13th Brigade. Last year, defending champion was Marianas High School JROTC, while second place went to Rota High School, with 84 percent.

The academic competition is open to JROTC cadets from throughout the Western region. This includes both private and public schools in American Samoa, Guam, Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Nevada, California, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

Saipan Tribune learned that one of the schools that Tinian and Marianas high schools bested was Punahou High School in Hawaii, one of the most exclusive prep schools in the nation and alma mater of the current president.

According to Lt. Col. Bob Gay, CNMI Director of Army Instruction, the competition creates tremendous opportunities for cadets by demonstrating their academic abilities.

“This fast-paced rigorous competition tests cadets in a myriad of ways. The cadets must answer 50 questions in short order that range from cadet knowledge, leadership, science, history, and citizenship to current world and national events, and SAT and ACT type of questions,” he said.

He disclosed that the CNMI cadets from Saipan Southern High, Marianas and Tinian high schools JROTC are currently competing in a National Army-Wide Cadet Competition in both leadership and academic disciplines.

“This is also an online competition. These three schools advanced to the second round of the testing. If they do well in this phase they may have the opportunity to earn a trip to the mainland and further compete at the National Cadet Command level,” he said.

There are currently 1,645 Army JROTC programs worldwide, comprising 280,000 cadets and 4,000 Army instructors.

Gay said he is enthusiastic about the competition, the achievements, and the energy of the cadets’ involved in this exercise.

“The cadets are competing to win and learning at the same time. This is a big achievement, besting both public and private schools from throughout the entire Western Region. Parents, cadets, students, teachers, educators, and JROTC cadre deserve a great deal of credit for the performance of their high school student cadets. This did not happen in a vacuum and all education stakeholders deserve credit for the dedication they display to their students on a daily basis,” he added.

The CNMI JROTC Program hosts its own academic competitions throughout the year. The next one will be in the upcoming JROTC Cadet Leadership Challenge (Spring Camp) later this month.