Zion-Benton High School's Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) unit finished first at the NJROTC Area 3 West Regional Academic, Athletic and Drill Competition hosted by Recruit Training Command (RTC), Feb. 23-24.

Located in Zion, Illinois, the Zee-Bees beat 15 Midwest NJROTC units from Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska during the two-day competition and captured the regional title.

"The team and I shared one common goal this year: To win our state championship," said cadet Masiya Chhen, a senior from Zion-Benton High School. "All of our intensive drill, physical training, and academic practices with Chief Nelson had finally paid off. We did a tremendous job leading up to the competition as well as the competition itself."

The competition included personnel inspections, color guard and drill competitions, athletic events and academic testing.

More than 20 staff and recruit division commanders (RDC) from RTC volunteered their time to judge the competition. For the RDCs, judging these types of events provides additional opportunities to use their drill knowledge.

"This was a great event," said Capt. Michael Garrick, commanding officer of Recruit Training Command. "It was fantastic to see so many young leaders come out and demonstrate what they have been working so hard for. I also want to thank all of the recruit division commanders, instructors and RTC support staff for their work this weekend."

"First, I want to thank Capt. Garrick, because without his commands superb support the event would not have been so successful," said retired Navy Cmdr. Joe Hankins, NJROTC Area 3 Manager. "RTC support was excellent and I am really proud of the cadets."

Of the 16 schools participating in the Area 3 West Regional, the top five received trophies. Overall, after Zion-Benton the top five included East Aurora (Illinois) High School, Harding High School, Saint Paul (Minnesota), Freeport (Illinois) High School and Rickover Naval Academy, Chicago, (Illinois).

Zion-Benton will be one of the three schools to represent Area 3 at the NJROTC national competition in Pensacola, Florida, April 6-7.

NJROTC is a citizenship development program that instills in high school students the value of citizenship and service to the United States.

The NJROTC, or Citizenship Development, program is currently under the direction of Rear Adm. Bernacchi and his NSTC staff, headquartered on Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois.

In addition to regular classroom instruction, NJROTC cadets participate in a number of extra-curricular activities throughout the school year and during the summer months that are designed to stimulate learning by hands-on experiences and to reinforce the program's curriculum. Cadet extra-curricular activities include community service projects, drill competitions, academic competitions, visits to naval installations, and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) training.

The NSTC command supports 98 percent of initial officer and enlisted accessions training for the Navy. This includes the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) at more than 160 colleges and universities, Officer Training Command (OTC) on Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, Recruit Training Command (RTC), the Navy's only boot camp, at Great Lakes, Illinois, as well as NJROTC.

For more information about NJROTC, visit www.njrotc.navy.mil/.

For more news from Naval Service Training Command, visit http://www.navy.mil/local/greatlakes or visit the NSTC Facebook pages at http://www.facebook.com/NavalServiceTraining/

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For more news from Naval Service Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/.