NJROTC team wins
Hamilton High’s NJROTC Unit has always had outstanding drill teams that compete for national-level recognition. It now has an orienteering team to add to that arsenal of success. The program’s Orienteering team swept the Varsity, Jr. Varsity, and Overall trophies in the inaugural NJROTC Area 3 Orienteering Championships held on Nov. 13-14. With this win, the team receives an automatic invitation to compete in NJROTC Nationals which will be held March 11-12, 2022 near San Jose, California.
Led by team captain Jacob Spangenberg, who had the competitions’ best times for both days, Big Blue competitors were listed throughout the leader board for both Saturday’s event at Camp Butterworth in Maineville, and for Sunday at Elk Creek Metropark in Trenton. Varsity team members include Spangenberg,
Bernardo Hernandez Martinez, Tristan Cord, Matthew Combs, and Sabdiel Montano. The Jr. Varsity team includes Landon Hamblin, William Kennedy, Alexander Lopez, Evan Lunsford, Javier Solorzano, and Maddex Tripoli.
Last spring, the Hamilton High School NJROTC unit won the Miami Valley Junior Orienteering Championships Varsity and Jr. Varsity competitions.
Orienteering is a land navigation sport typically held in wooded areas. Orienteering requires a person to find multiple checkpoints, in a particular order, using only a map and basic compass. Both speed and route selection are key attributes to success.
CONTRIBUTED chapter of the National Honor Society. To gain membership, students must be a junior or senior, have at least a 3.6 GPA or higher, and must demonstrate service, leadership, and character.
This year’s newest members are Avery Cox of West Chester, Rhiannon Crichton of West Chester, Brent Duckwall of Liberty Twp., Colin Eppert of West Chester, Miguel Garcia of West Chester, Annelise Helwig of Liberty Twp., Elise Irwin of West Chester, Ainsley Keyes of Fairfield, Taylor Mitchell of West Chester, Logan Ottke of Morrow, Payton Puryear of West Chester, Bianca Rodriguez of Liberty Twp., Johnathan Russell of West Chester, Carmen Soloria of West Chester, and Gabrielle Soloria of West Chester.
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Nov. 12, to show support for Reagan Scacchetti, a fourthgrade student who is battling brain cancer. Reagan was diagnosed eight years ago with Hypothalamic/ Optic Chiasmatic Glioma, an extremely rare form of brain cancer.
Reagan’s family and friends joined the entire staff and all students at Five Points Elementary to help celebrate the balloon launch, which consisted of over 200 purple balloons.
In order to show support for Reagan and the Scacchetti family, students and staff were encouraged to wear purple (“Purple Out”), Reagan’s favorite color. In downtown Springboro, the city decorated all along Ohio 741 with purple ribbons, balloons, and signs of encouragement. A fundraiser was started for T-shirts that read, “Team Reagan Our Rockstar.” All proceeds from this fundraiser are going to Dr. Peter de Blank Research for low grade gliomas at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Reagan’s honor.
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Ross Rambotics hosted the 12th Annual Rambotics FIRST LEGO League Tournament held at Ross Middle School (RMS) on Nov. 20. Ross Rambotics inspires students to build a better future by promoting leadership and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) throughout the Ross community and beyond.
The RMS FIRST LEGO
Maskers won the Innovation Project Award and Beta Boys earned the Core Values Award. The Breakthrough Award went to Bot Dynasty. Commendations go to SnakeBytes for earning the Energized Engineers Award. Bot Dynasty brought home the Craziest Cargo Award. To add to their tournament hardware, Bot Dynasty also garnered the Elimination Round Finalist Award. Guest team Brookwood LEGO Lightning won the Breakthrough Award and LEGO Legion garnered Robot Design, Robot Performance, and Elimination Round Champion Awards.
Students from Ross High School’s FIRST Robotics Competition Team 3201 demonstrated their robot and served as volunteers throughout the event. Rambotics Alumni Award recipient Zach Wells (Ross High School Class of 2014) demonstrated the drones he uses for his doctoral research at University of Cincinnati. CONTRIBUTED