The end of the school year is in sight, and athletics teams are preparing for playoffs and other post-season challenges. But one group of students at Plant City High School is getting ready to compete in an entirely different kind of competition — one that involves rifles, flags and extreme attention to detail.
One drill team and two color guard teams from Plant City JROTC will be competing at the state level — a first for all of them. And they attribute their success to their collective dedication.
“None of us would have been able to get to state without each other,” Faith Girmscheid, commander of the female unarmed squad, said.
For those who have never seen a drill team competition, battalion commander Jordan Wetherington describes it as a show of skill, precision and technique, demonstrated through a specific sequence of commands.
“We have to show that we can work together as a team,” Girmscheid added.
Drill team competition season spans December through the end of the school year. Students travel to different high schools in the area.
“What’s hard at competitions is, you have judges that grade you on every little thing,” Wetherington said.
That includes hair, uniforms, whether boys have shaved, and the team’s ability to perform the entire sequence in under eight minutes.
The district competition was held March 7, at Zephyrhills High School. Students from Plant City JROTC competed in nine different events, both armed and unarmed.
And though not all of the students expected to advance, three of the nine teams scored high enough to move on to the state competition: female unarmed squad, female color guard and male color guard.
For Wetherington’s family, pride for the success at districts is two-fold. While he commands the male color guard team, his sister, Rebekah Wetherington, leads the female color guard team.
“We have worked so hard for the past three years to even place. So when we had our names called, we were overjoyed,” Wetherington said.
Wetherington said the female unarmed squad had the biggest reaction he had ever seen when they found out how highly they had placed. Girmscheid admitted to being so excited that she jumped out of formation and even shed a few tears of joy.
It certainly has been a unique time for Plant City JROTC. Last year, one of the teams brought back Plant City’s first district trophy since 2006, and a female color guard competed for the first time in about 14 years. So to earn three trophies this year was a big step in achievement.
“That was a giant goal for all of us, to start bringing trophies back, and prove not just to ourselves but to other schools that we’re not here just to be here,” Wetherington said.
The state competition will be April 11, at George Jenkins High School in Lakeland. Some of the cadets from Plant City are confident that they have a shot at doing well enough to advance to nationals. But they will be taking it one step at a time, practicing for hours almost every day to prepare for state.
“None of us have made it this far before, and I think we’re all excited to see what’s in store,” Wetherington said.
TEAM MEMBERS
Female Unarmed Squad
Pictured: Leslie Leon, Sarah Shea, Faith Girmscheid, Rebekah Wetherington. Not pictured: Megan Mulvaney, Sophie Vera, Stephanie Vera.
Female Color Guard
Rebekah Wetherington, Faith Girmscheid, Megan Mulvaney, Sophie Vera
Male Color Guard
Jordan Wetherington, Joseph Shannon, Rodrigo Vazquez, Ian Matthews
