Zion-Benton Township High School's Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) unit finished first at this year's NJROTC Area 3 West Regional Academic, Athletic and Drill Competition hosted by Naval Service Training Command (NSTC) at Recruit Training Command (RTC), March 13-14.

Known as the "Zee-Bees," the northern Illinois high school from Zion, Illinois, competed against 14 Midwest NJROTC units during the competition, capturing the regional title for a sixth straight year.

More than 600 cadets from 15 Navy Junior ROTC units, 14 units in and around Chicago and one unit (Harding) from St. Paul, Minnesota, participated in the two-day event. East Aurora (Ill.) High School was the runner up followed by Freeport (Ill.) High School, William Howard Taft (Chicago) High School, and Harold L. Richards (Chicago) High School (overall trophies were handed out to the top five units.)

"This was an amazing experience and we could never have done this without a complete team effort," said co-battalion commander Cadet Capt. Meriecel Pasaporte, 18, and a senior at Zion-Benton.

The NJROTC, or Citizen Development, program is currently under the direction of Rear Adm. Rich Brown, NSTC commander, who is also headquartered on Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois. The admiral stopped by to observe Saturday's drill competition and spoke to the cadets and their leadership.

"You all look great and I hope some of you get the opportunity to go to Nationals in Pensacola (Fla.) next month," said Brown. "Good luck to you all."

The regional tournament has been held at RTC for the past 12 years. Academic testing was held in a classroom of the USS Hopper barracks and the athletic and drill competition was held in the Pacific Fleet Drill Hall, the same drill hall recruits use to practice for graduation at the Navy's only boot camp. Events included personnel inspections, color guard and drill competitions, athletic contests and academic testing.

Zion's other battalion commander, Cadet Commander Alex Thomas, 18, and a Zee-Bee senior, agreed with Pasaporte and called the win a blessing.

"I had complete faith in our unit. No one person can win this and I think we showed how we could work effectively as a team," Thomas said. "No one ever got down and if a cadet did fall others on the team were there to pick that person up and carry on."

The team concept dominated throughout the two days for Zion. The unit racked up three first place wins, five second places and one third showing. Their ranking Navy Science Instructor (NSI), retired Cmdr. Steve Schulte, called it a very impressive performance by his cadets, especially in the academic testing and color guard.

"I'm really proud of all the cadets," said Schulte. "It has nothing to do with me, because they're the ones that put all the time in and worked extremely hard."

Retired Master Chief Dan Hackstein, the senior enlisted NSI who helped coordinate the competition with staff and cadets from the Zee-Bee unit, said he and the unit felt awesome to win their sixth straight title.

"It was a lot of hard work, dedication and determination from the coaches, drill team and all the cadets," he said. "We especially appreciate RTC for opening their doors up to us and hosting the competition once again. I'm not sure if having it here gives us a home field advantage because we have to come down here and compete just like everyone else."

More than 25 RTC staff and recrui1t division commanders (RDCs) volunteered their time to judge the weekend event. For the RDCs, being a judge provides additional opportunities to use their drill knowledge and to mentor and mold future citizens.

"I think I like volunteering to be a judge in this competition because I have a part and an impact in molding the future," said RDC and judge Naval Aircrewman Mechanical 1st Class Lisa Wesley. "Some of these cadets may join the Navy and be able to see and meet us, the RDC judges in uniform. Hopefully we gave them an idea and show them what they can expect if they enlist in the military. But even if they don't join the military I think we're able to show them how they can be good citizens and perform at a high rate in anything they choose to do."

The other participating units included: Bloom Township (Chicago Heights, Ill.) High School; Bloom Trail (Chicago Heights, Ill.) High School; George Henry Corliss (Chicago) High School; Harding (St. Paul, Minn.) High School; North Chicago (Ill.) High School; Proviso East (Maywood, Ill.) High School; Proviso West (Hillside, Ill.) High School; Harold L. Richards (Oak Lawn, Ill.) High School; Hyman G. Rickover (Chicago) Naval Academy; George Westinghouse College Prep (Chicago) High School; and Wheeling (Ill.) High School.

Cmdr. Joe Hankins, new area three manager, called the two days a wonderful experience for everyone involved.

"This has been so well organized, the cadets have performed superbly and the support from the base has been great. It's very fortunate for these units that this event can be held each year at 'The Quarterdeck of the Navy'," said Hankins, who also announced that not only will Zion-Benton be going to Nationals next month but they will be joined by East Aurora High School.

The Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) and Navy National Defense Cadet Corps (NNDCC) programs seek to instill in participating high school students the values of citizenship, service to the United States, personal responsibility and a sense of accomplishment. The NJROTC and NNDCC programs strive to build a strong foundation of citizenship within America's future leaders.

Currently NJROTC and NNDCC units are operating at more than 600 high schools around the world with more than 90,000 cadets participating.

In addition to regular classroom instruction, NJROTC and NNDCC 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.

Brown and his NSTC staff oversee 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, R.I., Recruit Training Command (RTC), the Navy's only boot camp, at Great Lakes, Ill., as well as NJROTC/NNDCC.

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

For more information about NSTC, visit http://www.netc.navy.mil/nstc/ or visit the NSTC Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/NavalServiceTraining/.

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