Uniform-clad young people marched on Oak Harbor High School March 29. But it wasn’t an invasion. They were members of the high school JROTC program, involved in competition featuring 12 schools from throughout the Puget Sound region.

The Oak Harbor Naval JROTC team competed in areas such as unarmed drill, color guard, sharpshooting and physical fitness activities against schools from as far away as Tacoma. More than 300 students participated, representing four branches of the service.

Oak Harbor qualified four teams that will compete in Bend, Ore., later this month against JROTC teams from Oregon, Washington and Montana.

“I think we did well,” said Jennifer Zornes, commanding officer of the unarmed drill team. “There’s places we did well and there were some places that we can improve in.”

The drill team placed third and the top five teams in this category moved on.

Joining the drill team will be two sharpshooting teams and a physical fitness team.

In all, approximately 40 Oak Harbor students will head to Bend April 26.

One of the sharpshooting teams has experience outside of the state. In February, that team placed fourth in a national competition in Tennessee.

There are 135 students participating in the high school’s JROTC program, which promotes patriotism, discipline and community service.

Mike Black, a teacher at the the high school, said it’s a common misconception that the JROTC is used solely to recruit for the military.

“It’s really not a recruiting program, it’s a leadership and citizenship program,” Black said.

He added that he has had 15 students who have participated in the program since their freshman year. Of that number, five are thinking about enlisting.

Zornes has participated in the program since her freshman year and she said it has helped improve her confidence.

“It’s a great opportunity to learn how to lead,” Zornes said. She is planning to attend Skagit Valley College and eventually transfer to a university to major in psychology.

In addition to preparing for competition, Black said the students spend a significant amount of time doing community service activities.

During the school year, the students have logged more than 1,000 community service hours.

Some of the activities include bell ringing for the Salvation Army, volunteering at an assisted living home and helping with the parent-teacher conferences taking place this week.

The high school’s JROTC program has been in place since 1973.

You can reach News-Times reporter Nathan Whalen at nwhalen@whidbeynews

times.com or 675-6611.