by JIM CULLEN
Hays High Marine Corps JROTC Cadet Staff Sergeant Carl Sheldon assists with notetaking while Marine Staff Sergeant Jason Areiza gives a close once-over to cadets from Brownsville James Pace High School. (Photos by Jim Cullen)
The recent weekend scene on the Jack C. Hays High School campus was familiar at first glance. School buses from across the state arrived and unloaded students and equipment, parents arrived to offer support, and focused activities sprawled across the campus. At that first glance, it could have been a UIL meet, a band contest or a one act play festival.
What was different on a closer look, though, were the uniforms, the flags and the rifles—all unique in their own way because the gathering was the Marine Corps JROTC “Texas Round-up” Military Skills Meet, hosted by the Hays High School Marine Corps cadets of Major David Hamil.
The gathering brought together approximately 400 Marine Corps cadets from fifteen statewide units from as far away as Amarillo Caprock High School and the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen. Hamil says his reason for bringing the groups together is “to provide our fellow Marine Corps JROTC units across the state an opportunity to compete against each other in a ‘Marine-only’ environment.”
“To my knowledge, it’s the only one in the entire country,” states Hamil, the Hays Senior Marine Instructor.
Hays High School Marine Corps Cadet Major Ryan Druell, left, his unit’s Executive Officer, and Cadet Captain Edbriel Manzo go over meet event details during the Texas Round-up Military Skills Meet.
Hamil adds that part of his motivation in staging the event is to provide his cadet officers and staff non-commissioned officers “an opportunity to run the show and demonstrate their leadership capabilities.” To that goal, he says with obvious satisfaction, “They executed their duties flawlessly.” While not competing, the Hays cadets handled every detail of the meet—and were on hand to assist arriving visitors, help judges with recording comments and coordinate scoring and reporting of all results.
Hamil’s positive observation was shared by Lieutenant Colonel Mark Stroman, the MCJROTC Region 5 Director, who was in attendance at the event, enjoying the seven events that included Armed Drill, Unarmed Drill, Male Color Guard, Female Color Guard, Academics, Marksmanship and Physical Fitness (Male and Female). At the event-concluding trophy presentations to the units from Alief Hastings, Brownsville James Pace High School and Dallas W.T. White High, Stroman said the meet had been “the best I’ve ever seen.”
The Hays High School Marine Corps JROTC cadets travel to Amarillo next month for their final competition of the school year.
