The MacArthur High School JROTC program is the best in the state — and they have the rings to prove it.
Earlier this week cadets received championship rings celebrating not only their recent accomplishments, but also noting their past ones. For the second year in a row, the Highlander Battalion was named best Overall Armed Forces Drill and Color Guard Team in Oklahoma after competing against teams from the Army, Marines and Air Force. For the fourth consecutive year, the battalion also was the Army JROTC Drill and Color Guard Team State Champion.
The rings note the fact the battalion is two-time Armed Forces champions and four-time Army champions. This year is the second time cadets have received rings to celebrate their state championship; the first was in 2023.
The second ring was especially sweet for former Cadet Lt. Col. Abigail Benoit, who was battalion commander last year.
“I've wanted the second ring for two years now so I’m pretty excited to have it,” she said after the ceremony. Benoit graduated in May and is spending the summer working before attending cosmetology school in the Fall.
The second ring also holds special meaning for former Cadet Maj. Nicholas Godfrey, who won No. 1 Armed Exhibition Drill Soloist in the state of Oklahoma and placed first in the Armed Exhibition Dual Category along with Cadet Capt. Ian Barrois.
“I accomplished a lot more last year,” Godfrey said. “I got my first solo and dual awards and we won overall for the Army team.”
Godfrey said he reports to Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., on July 28 and plans to pursue a career as an Army diver.
“I see it as something fun to do. It could help me get into Special Forces,” he said. Ultimately he plans on a career in engineering.
This was the first ring for Isabella Schimmel, who joined the MHS JROTC program last year as a ninth grader.
“I liked the structure of it and I wanted to learn the discipline of it,” she said as to why she joined JROTC.
She was a private first class last year, and has been promoted to sergeant for the upcoming school year. She said her father is in the Army and she, too, plans on a career in the military. She plans to enter the Army as an officer after attending college and hopes to get at least one more ring while she is a member of the MHS battalion.
Senior Army Instructor Maj. Craig Redfearn credited the cadets with making the dream of a fourth straight championship come true.
“It means these cadets put in a lot of time, effort and hard work, including early mornings and late evenings, to be state champions for four years in a row,” Redfearn said. “Each year is different. For me, personally, it is always good to see cadets achieve success, especially to put in the time and learn the routines. Character, education, leadership is what the program is about. I’m just proud to be able to have these kinds of kids, along with the sergeant major (Command Sgt. Maj. Jesse J. Batts Jr.).”
Redfearn has his eyes set on championship No. 5 this year and has adopted the motto of “going for five to keep it alive” to encourage new cadets to live up to the accomplishments of past classes.