Kapaa JROTC heading to Oahu

KAPAA — Fans at the Kauai Interscholastic Federation girls basketball contest were treated to special exhibitions by members of the Kapaa High School JROTC units Friday night.

The Friday night crowd, drawn to the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapaa by senior night, were treated to the presentation of colors by the JROTC color guard.

During the halftime break, JROTC units from the Unarmed Novice Exhibition Team and the Armed Expert Exhibition Team took the floor for presentations that were met with enthusiastic response.

“We’re competing in a JROTC competition Saturday,” said Sgt. Major Ian Versammy of the Kapaa JROTC. “These kids did these arrangements all by themselves — we just provided the guidance. But they need the experience of performing before crowds because when they go to competition, there are lots of people they need to perform before. This gives them some of that experience of performing before an audience.”

Lt. Col. Robert Levoit, the senior Army instructor, said the JROTC competition will be against the other 25 JROTC programs in Hawaii.

“They compete Saturday at Kaimuki High School on Oahu,” Levoit said. “The units are evaluated in four separate areas, including inspection, color guard, regulation and exhibition. Kapaa High School will have 20 cadets participating — 10 novice and 10 expert. Kapaa was No. 1 in the state in 2011, and have finished in the top five since then.”

Members participating in the Friday night exhibition were the Unarmed Novic Exhibition Team, including Malachi Sacramento, commander, and Braden Tabura, Russell Gushiken, Alicia Hayakawa, Jacob Kamibayashi and Daileen Barton.

The Armed Expert Exhibition Team was led by Larissa Tsai, commander; Mason Tabura, drill team commander; Marvin Agbayani, expert team commander; Anthony Gimed; Sejong Takenaka and Ruth Santos.