Centennial’s Navy ROTC earns top national honors

Dick Benoit

Thursday, May 27, 2004 | 8:15 a.m.

Students from Centennial High School's Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps recently earned several top honors while competing against the nation's 26 best teams at the Navy Junior ROTC National Drill, Academic and Physical Fitness Championship.

The contest was held at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Fla.

The Navy Junior ROTC's distinguished awards include the No. 1 color guard in the nation and the No. 1 individual and team in male push-ups. Additionally, the Centennial High School students placed third in the female exhibition drill team and won the National Team Spirit Sportsmanship Award.

The national champion color guard members include cadets Gregory Emry, William Devine, Natale Emerson and Kyle Stokey. Centennnial's national pushup champion is Abraham Beach, and the national third place unarmed drill team members are Melissa Passquarelli, Megan McCleary, Patricia McCleary, Christy Weiss, Raychel Pizan, Jane Pizan, Cimarron Hill, Elizabeth Emry, Kayce Brown, Amsala Alemu-Johnson, Kendra Anderson, Brittany Mitchell and Krystal Castellon.

The competition was the final stop on a journey that began last August when teams spent seven months and more than 400 hours of practice and study both before and after school and on the weekends. They also raised more than $26,000 needed to send them to Florida.

Pentagon memorial

Donations are being solicited by a Washington public relations firm for the Pentagon Memorial Fund. Almost $30 million is needed. About $17.5 million of will be used to build the memorial. Another $10 million is required for planned maintenance.

"The Pentagon Memorial will honor the men, women and children taken from us on that dark moment in our country's history," said fund committee member retired Gen. Hugh Shelton. "As a site for remembrance, reflection and renewal, the memorial is also an important gift to the families, the survivors and all those who will visit it."

According to fund officials, about $2 million already has been collected, including a $1 million donation from the Anheuser-Busch Foundation, the first major corporate donor to the fund.

The memorial will be built in a park setting among maple trees and will consist of 184 individual units -- the number of people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, Pentagon attack. Each memorial unit will consist of a bench by a common reflecting pool.

The group of 184 memorials will be located near the spot where Flight 77 hit the Pentagon, according to the release.

The fund Web site is at pentagonmemorial.net and allows donations through a secure online system.

In brief