By Aly Miranda |
For the second time in three years, JROTC will be participating in the 2013 National Academic Bowl Championship this June, at George Mason University outside of Washington D.C. A team of four students, plus one alternative, have been selected based on their grades from this school year and their performance on a qualifying test made for them to be on the team and will be compete as an academic team. They will all receive the Superior Cadet Award, which is the highest award a cadet can be awarded.
“It’s a multi-service academic competition. All the services (Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard) work within their JROTC program on different levels,” Sergeant Lionel Brown said.
The National Academic Bowl Championship is an academic competition that tests in the areas of English (grammar, vocabulary, critical reading), mathematics, science (physics, biology, chemistry), social studies, current events, and JROTC knowledge based questions. There are two qualifying tests that are taken online consisting of the areas mentioned above. They have timed questions, which are anywhere from 30 seconds, 45 seconds, or 60 seconds. There are two rounds. The first rounds requires the cadets to be in the top 50 percent of the brigade and the second round allows only the top four teams of the brigade to advance to the national competition.
“We were able to take first overall in the brigade,” DATA junior Evan Pape said. “This is my second time attending the National Academic Bowl Championship. I attended this competition the summer before my sophomore year in 2011.”
Pape was made commander this year because he was the only returning member from last year’s competition. He will be making sure his team gets all information about the competition and and make it to each part of the competition on time. His team consists of JROTC cadets Seth Ogoc, Jamie Turcios, Samantha Bakaysa and Thomas Bakaysa as the alternative.
“When I selected my team members I told them that my goal was to make it back to nationals. Also, since this is my last year that I am allowed to compete with Academic Team, it feels that I have left the team on a good note and have left the legacy of not only accomplishing the goal of attending nationals, but also I have set the standard of reaching the national competition every year,” Pape said.
