Earning the title of Battalion Commander, senior Alanis Merritt found JROTC to be her home. She joined freshman year and has competed in many competitions and has been involved in many different teams since then.

The most memorable win during her high school career was when the academic team had won Nationals during the summer of 2018.
“[Nationals is] a super big competition and we got really close to actually going into it a year ago and this year we got in,” Merritt said. “we were able to win which was super rewarding for the hard work that we put in for the team.”

Because of successes like this, JROTC has created a family of people who work together to achieve a common goal.

“I think the reason why we’re winning is because partially we’re motivated by that winning and that’s making everyone work even harder to win even more,” Merritt said. “I think that’s just growing the camaraderie and the friendship in the team because we are working hard together and we put in so many hours in together to win.”

Having this group of like-minded people allows Merritt to become motivated and she too encourages others.

“The majority of the team members, we’re all good friends,” Merritt said. “You always wanna make yourself better and make the team better; which motivates me a lot to be a better leader because I always want to motivate them and make them work as hard as possible.”

For her, she believes finding a group of people that you belong with is essential for high school.