Taking aim

PV senior focuses on marksmanship for personal, educational growth

FRUITLAND

Like every high school freshman, Josephine John wanted to fit in.

Her friends found their niche in one extracurricular activity or another, but she wasn’t sure what suited her until she found JROTC.

“When I was a freshman I wasn’t really positive,” she said. “I was just kind of scared to commit to things.

“I wasn’t really interested in JROTC at first because my friends did something else … I honestly felt I was left out and I kind of felt alone in JROTC,” she said. “I just made JROTC as fun as it is. I made great friends and I participated in a lot of things.”

John learned of the Army JROTC program through a cousin who participated in it and decided to give it a try.

One thing led to another and she found her niche in junior air rifle marksmanship as a precision shooter.

John, now a 17-year-old senior at Piedra Vista High School, turned an extracurricular activity into a competitive sport. She hopes it will take her to college and beyond.

She is the captain of the marksmanship team and the raider team at Piedra Vista. Marksmanship is air rifle shooting and a raider competes in physical fitness activities such as obstacle courses.

John said when she was introduced to JROTC she figured she would enjoy being a raider but swiftly became a marksman after a placing first at a local competition.

“When I tried out for marksman that’s when I fell in love with the sport,” she said. “That competition, I placed first overall within the county and since then I just wanted to dedicate myself to do more.”

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