More than holding up to the core values of honor, courage and commitment, the NJROTC program at Oak Harbor High School is dedicated to helping cadets not only succeed in high school but in the future as well.

The Naval Science curriculum is designed as a four-year program consisting mainly of academics, but the program also covers a variety of other subjects.

These subjects include astronomy, sea navigation, survival, history and oceanography to name a few.

In addition, the program provides cadets a chance to join extra-curricular activities.

At OHHS, the unit has a precision armed drill team and an unarmed drill team, a rifle team, an academic team, a physical training team, an orienteering team and a sword guard, in addition to the color guard that presents the flags at all the Oak Harbor football games and also marches in many area parades.

A cadet who is a member of any of the teams for the whole year has the opportunity to earn an OHHS varsity letter.

Regional and state competitions for the various teams are also an integral part of the cadets’ lives.

On April 21, Oak Harbor’s NJROTC unit had a record nine teams compete at the Northwest Drill and Rifle Conference Championship at Walla Walla High School.

A total of 52 OHHS cadets participated in the competition, matching their skills against other teams in the conference.

Chief William J. Thiel, Naval Science instructor at OHHS, said 33 of 43 schools in the drill conference were represented by at least one team.

“The Wildcat company was the only school with nine teams participating,” Thiel said. “All the teams did very well, with three of the nine teams placing in the top six.”

Each level of competition had 15 teams vying for the top six places.

The number one rifle team had the best finish for OHHS, coming in second.

The armed drill team led by Commander Lance Wernecke finished in third place and the number two rifle team was sixth.

Rounding out the team trophy winners was the number one physical strength team that finished in fourth place.

Individually, Alicia Christianson finished second in the master-level air rifle competition and William Rominski was second in the expert-level air rifle.

Also placing second was Ethan Morical in marksman air rifle.

James Klasky showed off his shooting skills with a third-place finish in expert-level air rifle and Wes Marks finished sixth in master level.

Cadet Michael Tucker brought home the third-place trophy in individual armed exhibition drill and Christopher Lorenz finished sixth out of 90 competitors in unarmed drill.

Other placements for OHHS included a seventh-place finish by the unarmed drill team and an eighth-place finish by the number two physical strength team.

The color guard number one team was ninth and the number two color guard finished 15th.

Commander Zach Webb’s unarmed drill team finished 11th and the armed drill team placed 13th.

Congratulations go out to all the cadets in the OHHS Wildcat NJROTC company who did so well in the in the competition at Walla Walla and continue to serve the local community with their volunteer efforts.