The Howler Issue 1 | Page 67

Extracurricular Activities Armed DrillArmed drill practices are on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 6:30 in the morning. There are two teams for this; one is the A team and the other is the B team. The A team is made up of people who are more experienced with the rifle. Armed drill uses an unloaded rifle to spin or do other tricks with. Their movements are precise especially the ones who have been on it for over a year. Unarmed DrillUnarmed drill practices are the same as armed drill. It is like “Stomp the Yard” because they do clapping and marching. It is made up of mostly girls and has two teams as well. While they do not use a rifle, the movements that they do can be as complicated as armed drill. Cheyenne Cowen has been on the unarmed drill team for two years now. This is her fourth year in N.J.R.O.T.C. Her most recent competition was at the regionals and it was the most stressful due to the fact that they were worried if they could make it to nationals. Her favorite beat to do is stomp the yard. AcademicsAcademic practice is after school on Wednesdays and it consists of mostly SHS students, but there are Walden kids who go there too. It is more difficult for the Walden kids to get to practice, but they still find time to make it. P.T.P.T. practice is on Wednesdays after school. P.T. stands for physical training. P.T. competition consists of different events. The P.T. team does multiple running events, pushups, and situps. Color GuardThere is no specific time of practice for color guard, just whenever one is coming up for a school event or competition. A color guard can consist of three to seven people with two having rifles and the rest presenting flags. Upcoming Events October 20: Annual Military Inspection (AMI) October 29: State Competition November 11: Naval Ball. The Naval Ball is the celebration of the birth of the Navy and the Marine Corps. ShootingShooting practice is almost every school morning for the shooters that are on the A team. The shooters use an air rifle making it a little bit easier to shoot. Unlike all the other teams, shooting does not compete at State; they compete at other times of the year. Alyssa Jackson is on the shooting team. She has been in N.J.R.O.T.C. since last year and started shooting in the summer. She has done one competition so far and her favorite position is the prone position. In the prone position, the shooter is lying on their stomach and Alyssa says it is the easiest position because they can easily control the air rifle.