The Michigan City High School (MCHS) Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (MCJROTC) finished second in the small-school category during the state round of CyberPatriot. CyberPatriot is a national high school competition in which students act as security managers of an organization’s virtual information system. They must defend against and then counterattack a cyber attack. Finalists compete in an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC, for the national championship.

“With so much attention currently being paid to Artificial Intelligence, CyberPatriot offers tremendous insight into a possible high-paying career with much job satisfaction,” said Major Tom McGrath, the Senior Marine Instructor. “These three cadets (Cadet Sergeants Jordon Staples, Jhonathan Ruiz, and Dante Rojas) are great representatives of our program and our school.”

Master Sergeant Jeff Benak, the Marine Instructor, noted the cadet's ability to multitask.  “Besides CyberPatriot, Ruiz and Staples are also on our military drill team, and all three do a good deal of community service. They are emblematic of the fine students that we have here at MCHS.”

The MCHS  military drill team will be in action on February 1st in Indianapolis at the Ben Davis High School meet. The following Wednesday, they will conduct presentations at Barker and Kreuger Middle Schools to familiarize 8th graders with JROTC before they schedule their classes for the 2025-26 school year. The cadets will return to drill competition at Concordia High School in Fort Wayne on February 22nd. They will also continue to present the Colors at all home boys basketball games, as well as the Sectional, Regional, and Semi-State tournaments. Parking support for those three tournaments will be an additional duty for the cadets. They will have to divide their forces on March 15th to support the Michigan City St. Patrick’s Day parade and the two Regional Championship games being played that day.