[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10951-10952]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                BETHEL REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DRILL TEAMS

 Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a group of 
Alaska High School students from Bethel, Alaska who recently won the 
National Championship in Drill Team/Color Guard competition held in 
Daytona, Florida, May 3rd.
  It is not unusual for a U.S. Senator to rise on the Senate floor and 
honor a national championship team from their home state. What is 
unusual in this case is that a Drill Team, Color Guard, JROTC unit from 
such a remote community won the national championship.
  You see, Bethel is a moderate-sized town by Alaska standards, but 
small by anyone else's definition. Located along the Kuskokwim River in 
Southwest Alaska--roughly 400 miles west of Alaska's largest town, 
Anchorage--the community has a current population of 5,471. The Bethel 
Regional High School contains 250 students, smaller than some classes 
in many high schools. The school draws mainly Yupik Eskimo students 
from dozens of smaller villages such as Akiachak, Akiak, Tuluksak, 
Napakiak, Kasigluk and

[[Page 10952]]

Tantutuliak to name just a few. The majority of the team, 11 of 13 
members, are Alaska Natives.
  It is truly heart warming to see students from a small Alaska town do 
so well in the national competition. At Daytona, the Bethel team 
competed against more than 70 schools from across the nation, as well 
as against Department of Defense schools from Japan to Puerto Rico.
  Practicing drill formations in Alaska's ``Bush'' is a bit more 
difficult than in Southern California or Florida. Teams need to 
practice indoors, a lot, since the average January temperature is 6 
degrees Fahrenheit. It also is a tad dark in winter, Bethel getting 
only about five and one-half hours of daylight a day in winter.
  But more challenging practice conditions didn't stop the students 
from Bethel Regional from competing and winning in the national 
competition. Let me mention the members of the Unarmed Regulation 
Inspection Drill Team that finished first in their competition: Curtis 
Neck, Michael Carroll, Wallen Olrun, James Miles, Christina Smith, Paul 
Anvil, Justin Lefner, Mark Charlie, Kimberly Cooper, Jocelyn Tikiun, 
Jason Noatak, Michael Glore and Lisa Typpo. The team was led by 
Commander Dexter Kairaiuak.
  I'd like to also name the members of the Color Guard that finished in 
fourth place in its individual competition: Nation Colors, Commander 
Curtis Neck, State Colors Dexter Kairaiuak, Nation Guard Michael 
Carroll and State Guard Wallen Olrun.
  The Unarmed Regulation Drill Team, containing the same members as the 
championship inspection team, also competed and took 12th place in its 
competition. The 10-member Unarmed Exhibition Drill Team took third 
place in the national competition. It included: Commander Curtis Neck, 
Michael Carroll, Wallen Olrun, Dexter Kairaiuak, Christina Smith, Lisa 
Typpo, Justin Lefner, Mark Charlies, Kimberly Cooper and Jocelyn 
Tikiun.
  I also want to publicly thank Army Instructor MSG (Retired) Barbara 
W. Wright, who was the Army Instructor and Coach of the team this year. 
She did a wonderful job training her students and helping them to their 
championship and deserves the thanks not just of the students and their 
parents, but of all Alaskans for her dedication and commitment. I also 
want to thank the chaperones who accompanied the students to the 
competition: Major (RET) Carl D. Bailey, assistance coach; Mr. Scott 
Hoffman and Mrs. Donna K. Dennis.
  To be national champions at any endeavor requires long hours of 
practice and sacrifice. It requires dedication and true commitment. I 
know all members of the U.S. Senate will join me in honoring these 
students and their faculty advisors for a job very well done. All 
Alaskans--all Americans--honor you today for your hard work and your 
accomplishments.

                          ____________________