What’s the best way to start off the weekend? Definitely waking up at 4 a.m. to do pushups, run, and get a little dirty.

November 18 some of the JROTC cadets participated in Zero Day—a vigorous tryout for a spot on the Raider team.

Zero Day took place at school, but many people wouldn’t know that since the event finished before the sun even rose.

Zero Day started promptly at 5 a.m. with a brisk temperature of 35 degrees.

To begin, senior captain Klayton Kaunert and junior co-captain Ava Sutter motivated the Raider wannabes by screaming for wall sits and pushups to try and raise spirts, but the real fun hadn’t yet begun. The football/soccer field was where the real fun started.

Set up on the field were six different stations that would test cadets’ strength and perseverance.

The six stations included burpees, water jug carries, sit-ups with a log, more pushups (there would be a lot of pushups throughout the day), ammo can carries, and flutter kicks.

Each station lasted one minute and cadets ran a lap around the field between each station.

After the stations cadets ran down Gypsy Glen Road with rifles. Cadets ran in formation and would repeat cadences all the way to Two Mile Run Park. Once everyone reached Two Mile, rifles were dropped off and the “Baptism” took place.

The “Baptism” is an annual Zero Day tradition. To be “baptized” cadets jump into the creek by the waterfall, cross the creek, and trounce the Raider sign on the way back to the school from Two Mile.

“My favorite part of the day was definitely jumping in the water for the Baptism and how motivated everyone was through the day,” shared junior Brady Young.

Once the group got back to the school, they took a pit stop at the back practice field to do the low crawl and get a bit muddy.

After the brief mud bath, cadets ran up the hill into the woods to do sit-ups against trees. To do this cadets sprinted as hard as they could up the hill until they heard a scream to find a tree. Once at the nearest tree they would lay with their legs around the tree and try to get a few sit-ups in before they heard a yell to continue running up the hill.

Finally, the cadets reached their final challenging activity of the day—pushups and sit-ups in the creek under the bridge.

Once the pain was finally over, all of the finishers met on the field to receive their Raider tabs.

SGM Weaver congratulated the finishers on their hard work and resilience throughout the morning. The captain and co-captain also shared a few words.

Captain Kaunert said, “[Raiders is going to] go pretty well; we have a pretty good group, but only thing is they need a fair amount of refining. No way I’m letting Butler win again.”

To finish off the morning, all Zero Day participants received a complementary breakfast from the Hot Dog Shoppe funded by the JROTC Parent Support Group.

“It was definitely a mental challenge but in the end it all payed off! Besides, I enjoyed being with a bunch of my friends,” said freshman Madyson Uphold about participating in her first Zero Day.