On January 21st the Snohomish JROTC drill team, along with multiple other teams, got on a bus and went to Everett High School to compete and hopefully win against eight other schools, including Everett. This meet contained all of the JROTC groups in Washington, and the events included air rifle and drill team competitions. The drill team got there and immediately started practicing and getting ready. The team had to do a lot of marching while performing their practiced rifle movements, such as spinning the rifle. There were only a few hours until the competition, so they waited patiently and practiced until they had to go out. They performed very well and ended up winning the competition.

The team celebrated afterwards by singing rhymes on the bus and eating lots of junk food. “It was a lot of fun, kinda stressful, you have a bunch of active service members in your face, testing you on your knowledge and such, and then of course you have to actually go and do your routine,” said Corwin Lacy. “And that gets stressful because you’re panicking in your mind about what’s going wrong and judges are looking at you and you’re getting marked down, and you got to try to beat all the other schools, but it’s a lot of fun.”

Alexander Banks had been there to watch it. “It was pretty fun, there were a lot of different events to go to, you know, watching Snohomish compete and win and watching the other schools trying their best, it was just a good time all around,” he said.

Isabelle Saunders commands the drill team. “It’s challenging, you’re pushed on the daily to be better than you were yesterday,” she said. “As the commander, a good bit of the team’s success depends on my ability to lead and to guide them, it’s fulfilling and incredibly rewarding to see the progress and results of our efforts, which continuously motivates us all.”