Press release, Michigan City Area Schools:
“If it was easy, anybody could be a JROTC cadet.” Those words have never been more true for the Raider Team. Raiders is a physically demanding competition, roughly based on the skills required of Marines in Force Reconnaissance. Cadets must work together in order to be successful. Michigan City High School (MCHS) hosted a Raider Meet on September 20. Schools from Indianapolis, Chicago, Romeoville, Illinois, Minneapolis, and Hobart competed.
Master Sergeant Jeff Benak, the Marine Instructor who coordinated the logistics-intensive meet, noted how this competition demonstrated MCHS’s ability to host a difficult event and do it first-class in every way.
“Even with the hour lightning delay, all schools that attended were impressed with how efficient and fair the competition was. Our cadets represented our school in an outstanding manner.”
Major Tom McGrath, the Senior Marine Instructor, also commented on the impressive performance of the MCHS cadets.
“We had a couple of our starters unable to compete, but our younger cadets stepped up and really gave it their all. It was great to see our senior cadets mentoring our younger cadets.” MCHS took first place in the Tug-of-War event. Hobart, who two years ago won the Army JROTC National Raider Meet, was the overall winner.
MCHS will travel to Hobart on September 27 and to Indianapolis Ben Davis on October 11 for future Raider competitions. They will end the Raider season by competing in the All-Service Championship at Fort Knox, Kentucky, October 23-26. All of these meets are done at no cost to the cadets or MCHS.
In addition to the Raiders, the cadets will be starting their 5:45 a.m. Military Drill Team practices this week. The cadets will continue to support MCHS athletics, including the Homecoming Parade and Game on Oct 3rd. The Drill Team will partner with the MCHS Band and Choir for the MCHS Veterans Day Ceremony on November 11. That ceremony is open to the public, with a special invitation to local veterans. Michigan City Mayor Angie Nelson Deuitch will be the guest speaker. MCHS will host a Military Drill Meet on November 15th. Cadets are also committed to supporting our community. Among the agencies they will be supporting in the near future are the Salvation Army, the United Way, and Franciscan Health.