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Kathleen Merryman is a local news columnist for The News Tribune, where she's worked for a quarter of a century. Amazing, considering she is only 32. You're likely to find her fighting crime, righting wrongs or judging pies. You're less likely to find her in the newsroom. Call her at 253-597-8677 or e-mail her.
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Steve Maynard is a communities reporter and religion reporter for The News Tribune. He covers Federal Way, Fife and Milton. He also has been the paper's religion reporter since joining The News Tribune in 1987. Maynard has reported for daily newspapers since 1979, previously in Walla Walla and Houston. Call him at 253-597-8647 or e-mail him.
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Joe and I followed Clover Park High School's Air Force JROTC team. Here's a video from today's competition at Wilson High School:
Janice Sami stood at attention and didn’t flinch when a judge snapped questions at her during inspection. During regulation and exhibition, she was conscious to move in near-perfect formation. A wrong answer or misstep, she knew, could put the competition’s outcome at risk.
Only when Sami and her colleagues from the Clover Park High School Air Force Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps left the gymnasium, the site of the unarmed drill competition, could they relax a bit. Proud parents snapped photos of them. The cadets smiled for the first time since the competition began.
For Sami, a senior at Clover Park and a cadet lieutenant colonel, the competition was also a celebration of the JROTC program. She wants to become an agent in the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations after she graduates from college, and she JROTC is giving her an early taste of military life.
“This program is amazing,” she said while wearing her dress blue uniform. “It’s not just a program. It’s like a family. It’s made me a different person, and I’m proud of who I am because of this program.”
Clover Park was one of nine schools participating at Saturday’s Northwest Rifle and Drill Conference competition at Wilson High School in Tacoma. The squads vied in color guard, shooting, strength, armed drill and unarmed drill teams contests.
The teams gather once a month from December to March, when teams have a chance to qualify for championship meets. The regional meet is April 19 at Bethel High School in Spanaway.
Joe and I have decided to shadow Clover Park High School's unarmed drill squad. They just finished their competition, and we're going to chat with a few people soon.
Here's a photo from the first drill, the inspection:

Photographer Joe Barrentine and I are at Wilson High School in Tacoma today to cover a JROTC competition. We just arrived, and I’ll have more for you later.
