Twelve cadets from the University of Guam’s ROTC program represented UOG in the Ranger Challenge Competition held in Oregon from Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018 to Thursday,Nov. 1, 2018.

The Ranger Challenge team competed with other Army universities and colleges Oceania wide in a test of military skills and tactics.

Out of the competing schools, the UOG team had placed sixth out of the 10 teams. Cadet Michael Schommer, UOG’s 2018 RC team captain, expresses his pride for his fellow team members who competed in this year’s competition.

“Facing two typhoons that damaged the island our training was hindered,” Schommer said. “However, they continued to work diligently in order to compensate for the lost training days.”

The actual competition was intense, according to Cadets John Sazon and Lucand Camacho. The team had barely enough time to adapt to the cold temperatures.

“It is usually about 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit. So, it is really cold especially coming from a tropical island,” Sazon said.

In addition, the team experienced flight delays due to the recent typhoon. “The second typhoon (Yutu) also pushed back our flight by a day, resulting in a late arrival and no acclimation period,” Schommer said.

“The major challenge we had was maintaining a competitive mindset throughout the competition,” Camacho said. “Due to the unfortunate events of typhoon Yutu, we arrived at Camp Rilea [the location of the competition] off schedule with only about two hours or less of sleep before the competition started.”

Once a year, UOG’s ROTC holds competitive tryouts for the RC Team.

According to Schommer, the selection process is rigorous and grueling.

“With prior Air Assault School physical ‘testing’ experience, the Captain made the RC tryouts extremely aggressive,” Schommer said.

Some cadets learned about the Ranger Challenge Competition in their freshman year of college. Sazon and Camacho were both surprised to be chosen.

Sazon said the tryouts are both mentally and physically intense. He said that they look for those with characteristics such as being able to work in a team, leadership skills, and being physically fit.

“You have to be willing to push yourself beyond your limits while maintaining academics,” Camacho said. “It also requires a huge amount of discipline waking up around 0400 to be covered in mud and sweat from 0500 to 0700.”

“They also look at your current GPA and current standing with the cadre,” Sazon said.

From 82 cadets who tried to make the team, only the top 12 remained.

As the competition approached, the team’s mindset remained competitive. “I feltconfident that our team was ready,” said Camacho.

However, the three cadets expressed their personal doubts leading up to the RangerChallenge Competition.

“I would often question myself,” Schommer said. “I would question whether what I was doing was right or wrong for the team.”

Camacho had moments where he thought about withdrawing from the team. “I had personal doubts because of the class hours I was missing to attend the competition,”says Camacho.

Sazon takes comfort in his team.

“There are always doubts,” he said. “but working with such like-minded individuals in the team removes those doubts.”

The RC team was tasked to do several rigorous events. Some tasks that the team had to complete included a six-mile ruck march as a team, a night-to-day land navigation, and an obstacle course to name a few.

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378 students lined up in the Student Center and stacked their plates with food during the 57^th Student GovernmentAssociation’s Thanksgiving Event held on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018 from 10:00a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

The event was held as a way to give back to students for their hard work as well as to thank everyone for supporting the council so far with their activities and events.

Students were able to enjoy free food ranging from ham, red rice, beef, and more. The feast was prepared and served by caterer company Island Cuisine.

In addition, several trays of cake were purchased from Hyatt Regency for dessert.

A cornucopia contest was also held amongst UOG student organizations where decorated cornucopias were created and incorporated canned food. Winners were announced via SGA’s Instagram account.

According to Senator Kenn Carlos, chair of the event, canned food items will be donated to Catholic Social Services.

Along with free food, raffle prizes were given out and students participated in a pie eating contest.

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Because there was a small amount of funds set for food, the council nearly decided against getting candy. SGA asked the UOG Endowment Foundation if they were willing to help, a suggestion made by a previous council member.

Senator Gabriel Borg, who was co-chair of the event, expressed his gratitude towards UOG Endowment for their contribution.

“In the spirit of Halloween, we really wanted to give out free corrugated boxes of candy during the event,” Borg says. “We are extremely grateful towards the people over at the UOG Endowment Foundation for their generous donation in order for us to purchase the candy.”

In addition to the candy, the council gave out free pizza, popcorn, chips and drinks to enjoy throughout the evening. There was also a small raffle in which students had the chance to win tickets to UOG Biology Club’s Haunted House held on Saturday Oct. 27 and Sunday Oct. 28, 2018.

The movie night was held for UOG students as a way to kick off the weekend leading up to Halloween. The scary movie A Quiet Place was shown first, followed by Hereditary. The movies were selected based off recommendations among the council and student committee members.

Students were encouraged to get cozy and comfortable by bringing their own pillows and blankets as they sat around the rotunda to watch the movies.

The student center rotunda was also decorated with fake blood dripping on the walls, spider webs draping down, and caution tape placed between chairs. These decorations will be left up in the student center rotunda until Halloween day.

According to Borg, it was an overall successful event. He commends the council members for ensuring things ran smoothly.

“I was relieved that the event pulled through despite the weather earlier in the week,” Borg said.

“Not only did the students enjoyed, but also the council members as well,” said Charlie Onedera, 57^th SGA senator and chairperson of the event. “It was a nice way for everyone to unwind after midterms week and the whole typhoon situation by hanging out to watch a couple of movies.”

In addition to the Halloween movie night, the council also encouraged students to participate in the spirit week taking place from Monday Oct. 29, 2018 to Wednesday Oct. 31, 2018. Themes for the three days have been posted on the UOG SGA social media accounts.

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All photos by Marilea Torcelino.

Triton Night was held on October 4, 2018 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the UOG Calvo Field House. It featured the varsity women’s volleyball semifinals match between the University of Guam and Pacific Island University.

Triton Night was sponsored and hosted by the 57th Student Government Association. This event started back in 2016 to promote school spirit and recognize varsity sports teams at UOG.

This was also the first time that women’s volleyball was highlighted. In the past years, Triton Night was held during the men’s basketball tournament.

The event kicked off with a few opening remarks from Dr. Thomas Krise, UOG president, and Lawrence Camacho, dean of Enrollment Management and Student Success.

The volleyball match began at 6:30 pm. The UOG Tritons held the lead throughout all three sets and claimed victory against PIU 3-0.

Students received free shirts, food and drinks as they cheered on the Lady Tritons during their match. UOG merchandise and two iPads courtesy of IMC were also raffled out.

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Both the start and finish lines are located on the Sanchez campus.

Show time is at 5:30 a.m. and go time is at 6 a.m.

Entrance fees for this event are as follows: $7 for students, $10 for adults, $25 for a group of four students and $35 for a group of four adults.

This event will benefit the SSHS senior class of 2019, who are raising money to fund events such as their graduation and prom.

The class officers and advisers will announce registration.

For more information or if you are interested in making any contributions, contact the class council via Twitter @sshsco2019, call 489-8917, or e-mail the council’s president sidneyrosebf@gmail.com.

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She graduated from UOG with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in public administration, making her a proud alumna. From there, she was offered a position in the Student Life Office as a recruiter and could not pass it up.

Eventually, the position for director at the Student Life Office was offered to Quitugua when Mrs. Eden, the former director, was transferred to Graduate Studies.

Her favorite part of her job is working with college students. Events like the new student orientations allow her to interact and encourage incoming Tritons to be involved with student organizations and activities.

Quitugua does wish that she could have a bigger office to make students feel more welcome.

When she is not working, Quitugua loves spending time with her family and relaxing at home. She had recently married her husband, Michael Quitugua, on June 20, 2018.

She also has two beautiful children, a 12-year-old and an 11-month-old girl in addition to a baby boy on the way.

Currently, Quitugua is debating between getting a second master’s degree in counseling or pursuing a doctorate.

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