Nease NJROTC won its first major drill competition of the 2015-2016 year, taking home first place at the annual Ed White High School NS1 drill meet on Oct.10 in Jacksonville — repeating as champions for the second consecutive year.
Nease’s NJROTC program was recognized as the best program in the nation out of the 579 units in 2015 by the Naval Service Training Command in Pensacola, FL.
In addition to claiming the overall trophy, Nease picked up first place trophies for Personnel Inspection, Academics, Unarmed Basic Drill; second place in 16 x 100 Relay; and 3rd place in Color Guard.
Nease’s 10-cadet Academic Team received seven of the top ten scores with Cadets Claire Meier, Emily Blackford, and Eric Burky receiving medals as the top three cadets. Meier correctly answered 45 of 50 naval science and leadership questions — the highest score achieved over the past several years.
“Our freshman (NS1) class has been working hard since the first day of school,” said Cadet Battalion Commander Michaela Heinrich. “Their efforts were justly rewarded.”
Other top school finishers in the competition were Terry Parker HS 2ns place, Orange Park HS 3rd place, Mandarin HS 4th place, and Fleming Island HS 5th place.
