By Matt Hanley
There are many proud traditions in the East Aurora School District, but among the greatest is the high school’s NJROTC program.
Established in 1996, the East Aurora High School NJROTC now has more than 1,000 cadets participating, making it the largest unit in the country. During the last 18 years, the NJROTC cadets have brought home dozens of state and national titles. Outside the NJROTC office, the rows of display cases in the Ponquinette Fieldhouse are filled with hundreds of trophies.
The trophy cases only got more crowded this year, as cadets brought home two national titles. Last month, competing against schools from across the country, East Aurora High School placed first in the Color Guard competition and the Armed Platoon Exhibition in the NJROTC Academic, Athletic and Drill Competition.
Additionally, East Aurora High School finished second in Overall Drill Events, Armed Platoon Basic Drill, and Unarmed Platoon Exhibition events at the competition commonly known as Navy Nationals.
All high school NJROTC units from across the country are eligible to compete in the Navy Nationals, which are considered the most comprehensive test of training and performance for an NJROTC unit.
This is the first year that the national competition was done in a virtual format, with units submitting filmed competitions to a national committee. The East Aurora High School students found out the results by watching a televised awards ceremony in a classroom.
“They were throwing confetti and balloons,” said Cmdr. Timothy Crawford, East Aurora High School NJROTC senior naval science instructor. “You could hardly hear yourself think.”
Overall, East Aurora High School finished 11th at the competition. It has earned the most trophies for any unit in their region for the past 15 years, Crawford said.
At the competition, East Aurora High School also finished third in the push-up competition. The push-ups are done on a cadence. Cadets continue to do push-ups until they fall out of rhythm or are exhausted.
The boys completed 1,046 pushups — the top total for any male team — and the girls’ team completed 458. On the boys side, four East Aurora High School cadets finished in the top 10, out of about 200 competitors.
Jonathan Garcia finished third (160 pushups); Edmundo Delgado was fourth (158 pushups); Frankie Amaro and Angel Romera tied for ninth (139 pushups). On the girls side, Jannine Gutierrez finished 10th with 82 pushups.
These national honors follow a cadet’s top-10 finish in a marksmanship competition earlier this year.
Giovanni Gutierrez, who will be a senior at East Aurora High School, finished sixth in the individual category at the Navy National Marksmanship meet. This is Gutierrez’s second consecutive top-20 finish: last year, he finished 17th.
“He’s serious, and he’s (an) outstanding leader,” said East Aurora High School NJROTC Chief Gregory Fayfar, who coaches the marksmanship team.
The marksmanship competition combines the scores from shooting air rifle while prone (laying down), kneeling and standing. The scores from these three shooting positions are combined to identify the top eight finishers. The top eight advance to a round of standing shooters, which determines overall finish.
With this kind of success, the biggest challenge for the NJROTC unit might be finding enough room in the trophy case.
Matt Hanley is the assistant director of community relations for East Aurora School District 131. Learn more at www.d131.org.
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