What makes a great team with great leaders and tons of heart able to win it all? This year East Meck’s JROTC team came out victorious and won the JROTC Gold Cup as they topped all the other schools. This tournament comes down to which group is the most disciplined and who is the best during your team inspections. The events can have fun things implemented such as basketball where its not as serious and as long as people play you can get points. 

   “It was definitely a fun experience I had with my team and I really enjoyed it,” said unit commander Nick Krassy.

East is the only Air Force school to win the gold cup since the tournament first began. “That just makes it even better that we’re the first to do it,” Krassy said. The way you get points is by participating in events during the games. The most amount of points come from an inspection that is towards the later parts of the cup. East’s team was close in points with other schools but really pulled away when the inspection happened.

The tournament concludes when the CMS award ceremony is held in May at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte. East took home the Gold Cup and the glory that comes with it this past year. The committee gives out three different awards for the events that were held. In the end, the winning team gets to be published in a local newspaper such as Charlotte Weekly or The Charlotte post.

The ROTC’s next event is a field day which is coming up very soon. They will also be in next year’s tournament as well, looking to repeat as champions. But for now, they will be looking back on what they accomplished last year with lots of pride and dignity.

“It definitely is a great feeling after all the hard work we put in during the year,”Krassy said.