Most students think they know the LHS building ordinarily well, but do they really? Our school is filled with different activities or clubs that many students have never heard about, yet alone seen. A prime example is the rifle range located in the basement of our school.

This may be surprising to hear especially because the rifle range was built and is actively used as of two years ago. It was constructed to assist the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC)  in their air rifle training and competitions. The only people allowed inside the range are the certified JROTC students and their instructors.

They take advantage of the range and put it into constant use throughout the school year.

“It is used Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after school,” said Major Campbell the Marksmanship Team leader. “Almost every day except Friday.”

The rifle range has many useful purposes in aiding the JROTC program. Not only is the range used for training, but competitions as well. With continual practices the LHS Marksmanship Team are increasing their abilities daily. This training allows them to reach a high enough level to compete all over the state and sometimes further. The Marksmanship Team takes the entire benefit of having a range and uses it to compete as often as possible.

“We shoot our targets down at our range and then mail them into competitions,” said Major Campbell. “This is a lot cheaper and allows us to compete much more. We also do shoulder to shoulder matches where we travel to cities such as Humboldt and Pierre to actually do competitions.”

There are always risks when entering into an environment where injuries could occur. The Marksmanship Team is not an exception and takes many precautions to confirm the utmost safety at all times. LHS has a specified Range Safety Officer (RSO) with the students during practicing and training hours. All JROTC members are also required to learn and pass with 100 percent on the safety program to become certified nationally. This must all be completed before having permission to enter the range.

The instructors and JROTC program also take multiple efforts to keep the entire rifle range a safe and secure area inside our school building. Everything downstairs is tightly locked and kept out of harm’s way. In addition, air rifle is completely different from a normal rifle and does not cause damage to the property. LHS should feel entirely safe and have no worries regarding the range.

To many learning of the occupancy of a rifle range in our school is completely new information.

“The only people who really know about the range are the JROTC students,” said Major Campbell. “If you are not a participant or have friends in JROTC you most likely would have never heard about it. It is not really a secret, it just is not something students have not heard about.”

Learning more about your school is important. Students should know there are a wide range of activities and groups at LHS, including the little-known Marksmanship Team. The addition of a rifle range in the LHS school building is a positive for the JROTC program and should continue to be over the years.