The drill team color guard demonstrates their prowess and precision. (Photos by Yesenia Garcia)

By Yesenia Garcia

As the warm weather of spring had many students thinking about summer plans, the PHS NJROTC drill team looked forward to even warmer weather while competing in the annual National High School Drill Team Championships in Daytona Beach, Florida. The drill team competes on a National level against teams that they have never seen, or only see at this one annual drill team competition.

The PHS Drill Team members spent the entire year preparing with morning practices before school, arriving at 6:15 am, then going through an entire day of school, and then putting in the extra effort after school with more practice.

With all this practice team members were confident. “I feel like we are really ready to take on the competition,” said senior Karen Furrufino. The team has also been competing locally, in drill team competitions at places such as Rancocas, Bethel, and Manchester. PHS has also done exceptionally well in our own drill competition, where the Indians hosted other schools to compete.

The team as a whole is made up of about sixty NJROTC cadets. Each one of these cadets is responsible and dedicated, not only to the drill team, but the NJROTC program as a whole. Down in Daytona Beach, Florida, the team competed in eight events, Armed Color Guard, Armed Regulation, Armed Exhibition, Armed Inspection, Unarmed Color Guard, Unarmed Regulation, Unarmed Exhibition and Unarmed Inspection. Each event is commanded by a cadet that can memorize the routine, fix any flaws and overall handle the pressure of leading in competition.

The Armed Drill Team commander for the past two years is Cadet Lieutenant Commander Karen Ferrufino and the Unarmed Drill Team commander is Cadet Lieutenant Commander Starlin Morel. Starlin Morel has been commander for the last two years, and has not only shown how great of a leader he is but how well he can handle pressure.

Karen Ferrufino has led her team in Nationals for the past two years as well, and has commanded Armed Regulation and Armed Inspection. As a senior this was her last Nationals Drill Team Competition and although it was a bittersweet moment she has done exceptionally well as a leader in this program and as Commander of her team. Karen said, “Drill Team has been the highlight of my high school career.”

Cadet Lieutenant Isais Almonte is in charge of Armed Exhibition and he is only a junior. He has stepped up when he called, and has shown that he is a leader and likes a challenge. Cadet Commander Natalie Gaspar is commander for Unarmed Exhibition and has shown tremendous growth in her four years in drill team. Twenty-six schools compete at this competition and out of these 26 schools our Unarmed Regulation Team came in second place.

For the first time ever Cadet Lieutenant Commander Starlin Morel was awarded the Commander’s Award for demonstrating clear commands during performance and for demonstrating outstanding leaderships skills. Petty Officer Nuyen as well as Chief Newman put in tremendous effort to help this team be the best it can be. Both instructors give constructive criticism and tough love as a way to get each cadet to perform at their best.

The NJROTC Drill Team has always been a force to be reckoned with and this year was no different. As our team gets better so do all the other teams and the competition grows from year to year. For all returning cadets, they hope to get the opportunity to compete again next year and bring home a first place trophy. What awaits the NJROTC Drill Team is unknown but it will certainly be something great.

The 2016 ROTC Drill Team in Daytona, Florida, at the national competition.