A student in the Yuma Union High School District said she advanced to the national marksmanship competition and earned a gold Distinguished Badge after joining the district’s marksmanship program as a freshman.

“I never shot in my life ever but I made it to Nationals,” the student told meeting attendees, describing how she began shooting as a freshman, joined the team after an instructor encouraged her and went to competitions throughout her first year.

The student said the program changed her confidence and social engagement: “I was very shy … it made me concentrate a little more … it gave me more confidence.” She described being named an ambassador for the program and credited an instructor identified only as Major for teaching her and helping her develop quickly.

A second speaker at the meeting praised the student’s achievement and the program’s history of producing competitive marksmen and markswomen. “Her being our first … to go to nationals, first to ever get EIC points, and now she has her gold distinguished badge,” the speaker said, adding that the student receives recognition across the district and community.

Speakers also addressed misconceptions about the class. One speaker said many people think the class is strictly military-focused, but that instructors “just help you” with a range of future paths and do not require students to join the military afterward.

Meeting remarks referenced program instructors including Sergeant Major Larmen and Sergeant Major Olea as part of the student’s development; speakers credited those instructors with coaching and mentoring the student from her first season to national competition.

No formal board action, vote or policy change on the program was recorded in the meeting transcript. The remarks were presented as personal reflections on the program’s effect on one student and as praise from program supporters.

The district’s marksmanship program was presented as an extracurricular pathway that gave a previously shy student competitive opportunities, national-level experience and a national badge of distinction.