The ROTC (reserve officer training corps) recently participated in a contest on Saturday, January 20th. This contest consisted of six fields such as Academics, P.T., Color Guard, Unarmed Regulation, Exhibition, and Armed Regulation, and the program finished in the top three overall.  

The first category in the contest was Academics, where they take a test that covers multiple subjects that can consist of a broad range of topics like, current events, Naval history, math problems, and much more. Through this test they find out how the ROTC members compared against the other district teams.

“They take a test and find out how the participants compare to the other schools.” Bailey Barnes said.

Another category the team competed in was P.T., which is short for physical training. In this event the participants run and do sit ups, push ups, and other physical activities. Clements finished third for sit ups with 297 with a two second cadence in between.

“They see who can get the highest number between the schools competing” Barnes said.

Color Guard is another section in the contest. The students who compete in this event present various flags to represent the Navy, Army, Marines, Air Force, and the Coast Guard in a respectful manner. The event shows how to properly display the flag.

“This event is what you normally see in the other schools with the flags and rifles.” Barnes said.

The next category was Unarmed Regulation, which has the members marching in line. The students are judged based off of how they stand, how they act in line, and how they march.

“This event is regular marching, kind of what you see in movies.” Barnes said.

Exhibition is another event the team took part in, which involves complex marching sequences.

“They use demilitarized rifles as they perform routines with them,” Barnes said. “It is crucial for the members to stay in the boundaries and to be right on time as to not lose points.”

Finally, ROTC participated in the Armed Regulation. There the competitors do the same routine as the unarmed regulation but with rifles. They must do the marches in the boundaries, with specific number of people, and stand at attention.

“This event is kind of like regular marching but with weapons instead.” Barnes said.

There are multiple contests that take place throughout the entire year, but Clements usually participates in two or three a year because the qualification process is time consuming.

The team found out about the contest results a week after it took place on the 24th. The high ranking officials found out first during their seventh period.

On average, about 16-30 schools compete in these events. There were 20 schools at this past meet, and they will have about 40 schools at regionals.

Strength was displayed by the Clements ROTC team. As they succeeded in their  last qualifier before State, which is on on February 23rd.