From left, Marianas High School counselor Gabrielle Race, Biba MHS team members Minul Hoque, Caitlin Ignacio, Jess Gong, Jevon Gong, team captain Sora Baidya, and MHS JROTC instructor Ret. SFC Albert Lujan pose for photo upon their arrival on Feb. 25, 2025 at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport.
Photo by Emmanuel T. Erediano
THE Marianas High School team, Biba MHS, performed well in the 8th Brigade Army Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps inaugural aerial drone competition at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada on Feb. 21-22, 2025.
The event drew a total of 56 high school teams from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, American Samoa and the CNMI.
Biba MHS ranked 41st overall but placed 17th in autonomous flight skills with a score of 70, beating six of the top teams in the event. They also placed 27th in piloting skills with a score of 140.
Their instructor, retired Sgt. First Class Albert Lujan, said the MHS team prepared for the competition by practicing with five drones, which they had to repair now and then.
At the event, he said, Biba MHS didn’t drop their drone, unlike some of their competitors.
Sora Baidya, the team captain, said in the autonomous flight skills, “we scored higher than six of the teams in the Top 10.”
“If we add the programming part, our score would be higher than the Top 10 teams,’ ” she added.
Another MHS team member, Minul Hoque, said, “We did very good, considering that this is the first year for us to have this special team. We went there not knowing how the competition was going to be, but we actually beat our expectations.”
He said they returned to the island with new knowledge that they can share with the local JRTOC cadets who may join the national competition next year.
Caitlin Ignacio, another MHS team member, said the competition was “really fun.” On the first day, she said, they had a few mishaps, but “we really improved a lot on the second day.” She said they also had a good time during their meetings with the other teams. “We had a great time overall,” she added.
Team member Jess Gong said they prepared for the event, but during the actual competition, the challenging part was landing the drone.
MHS counselor Gabrielle Race, who accompanied the team, said, “I think these students did really well. I am super impressed at the improvement throughout the trip.”
Race said it was impressive to see the team “applying the things that they’ve learned and implementing what they have practiced. I was really proud to see them compete.”
On Feb. 1, 2025, MHS also sent a JROTC team to participate in the 8th Brigade Robotics Competition in San Diego California. The team members were Sandoval, Summer Yu, Belle Oval, Maxine Candace and Robert Rigillo. They placed 22nd out of 38 high school teams from California, Hawaii, American Samoa, the CNMI and Guam.
