On Dec. 21, 2024, Cardozo NJROTC cadets attended the Southold Drill Competition in Mattituck, New York, bringing home various wins for the program and school.  

The cadets arrived at the school at 0530 to call muster and load the buses with the gear needed for the competition. They departed Cardozo at 0600. Upon arrival at Southold High School, the cadets were instructed to enter their given room and prepare for the competition. The competition consisted of multiple events. The cadets competed in the following events: Varsity Inspection, Armed Platoon, New Cadet Inspection, New Cadet Squad, Unarmed Platoon, Varsity Color Guard, and New Cadet Color Guard. 

The new cadet section of the competition went well. The cadets that competed worked in the mornings to perfect the drill cards given to them. The drill cards given to the cadets are to be memorized to memory and then performed perfectly. These cadets started in Sep. are excelling in their areas of drill without struggle. 

The varsity section of drill had a big outcome at Southold. The teams switched up for many sections like the armed platoon changed the count of their movement making them faster. The unarmed platoon switched it up and changed up their squad leaders and members. 

For the varsity color guard this was the teams first time competing together as they all have experience in color guard but haven’t competed as an official team before. 

The Cardozo unit worked hard and even spoke to the judges one on one to get feedback on what they need to improve on and what they did amazing in. The judge said, “ You guys aren’t the same unit I saw in September, you guys have improved so much.” The feedback given was to fix their alignment. 

The competition ended with the award ceremony and knock out. For the award ceremony, the cadets had already changed and had been ready to go home but they were going home with trophies in first place, second, and third place along with fourth place overall. The following award were given: 

First Place: 

• Unarmed Platoon Drill: Commanded by C/LT-CDR Oliver Cordero 
• New Cadet Squad Drill: Commanded by C/SA Preston Park 
• New Cadet Inspection 

Second Place: 

• Drones: Led by C/SA Xavery Conception 

Third Place: 

• Color Guard: Commanded by C/PO2 Maliyah Thomas

After awards, the cadets took pictures, packed up the gear, cleaned the room, and got on the bus. The cadets arrived at school at 1600. 

Congratulations to the NJROTC cadets on bringing home the gold for Cardozo, once again.