The National Society of Pershing Rifles will be hosting the Buckeye Invitational Junior ROTC Drill Meet, to encourage high school students involved in ROTC to continue once they arrive at Ohio State.

The event will take place Saturday at the French Field House.

“We are having this event to encourage high-school students in ROTC to stay with it in college and to get people interested in the military,” said Jeremy Cousino, a junior in criminology.

Fourteen schools were invited and they are expecting to see 12-14 schools including one from West Virginia and one from Kentucky, totaling about 500 high school students, said Lt. Col. James Waldrop, adviser of the ROTC program.

The fee is $40 per school and participants can enter any event they want. There are about 10 team events to choose from, followed by a duet event for partners and an exhibition event. The events include armed, unarmed and color guard events, Waldrop said.

“We used to host this event all the time, but in the last six or seven years it has been phased out, so we are bringing it back,” Waldrop said.

The judges will be non-commissioned officers that teach at OSU, Waldrop said.

“The students come and march and are judged by ROTC instructors within the university,” said Ryan Samples, company executive officer and junior in military history.

“This is the first year we are having this, but we plan to make it an annual event,” Samples said.

The first thing the students do upon arrival is to go through an inspection, which includes evaluation on their uniform appearance, military bearing and general knowledge, Waldrop said.

“First the unit is inspected, and then they go march. They are evaluated on how they carry out the proper sequences,” Waldrop said.

Trophies are awarded to the top three teams in each event. The team with the most overall points is awarded what is called the traveling trophy, which means the winners will hold the title for a year and next year bring it back to compete again, Waldrop said.

The exhibition events can be done with a partner or individually. Competitors in this event make up their own routine and show it to the judges, he said.

“The last event is called Knock Out. Anyone can enter, and it is an individual event,” Waldrop said.

Basically, everyone is told the same chain of commands, and those who don’t do them properly are eliminated until there are 10 left. From there a winner is chosen and awarded a medal, Waldrop said.

All the color guard events this year are being sponsored by the Governor’s office of Veteran Affairs, he said.

All the money raised in this event goes to the Pershing Rifle Company A-1, Cousino said.

Students coming into OSU can get involved in ROTC by taking the course their first year here, and then they can join. They are taught things such as armed drills and small unit tactics, Cousino said.

Many people involved in ROTC can earn scholarship money toward school through the program, and many serve in the Army after graduation, Cousino said.