MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- A team of four Air Force Junior ROTC cadets from California bested thousands of other competitors from across the globe to win top honors in the 2016 JROTC Joint Service Academic Bowl Championship, held in Washington, D.C., June 25-27.
The cadets from the Scripps Ranch High School AFJROTC unit in San Diego entered the first round of preliminary competitions several months ago along with more than 82,000 other cadets from more than 2,700 multi-service units.
The championship rounds at The Catholic University of America in the nation’s capital brought together about 90 remaining teams, or about 500 cadets, from the preliminary competitions. The Air Force JROTC winning team scored 440 total points during the final round, beating its nearest competitors, a Marine Corps unit, by nearly 200 points.
This was the first time an AFJROTC unit has won the top title in the history of the competition, which is organized and executed annually by College Options Foundation, said Col. Bobby Woods, director of Headquarters AFJROTC at Maxwell.
“We are incredibly proud of Scripps Ranch High School Air Force JROTC team for their incredible win and becoming the champions,” he said. “The hard work they and the other cadets put into preparing for this competition year-round exemplifies the life lessons we try to instill in these young adults through JROTC. The life lessons of teamwork, positive attitude, hard work, and never quitting are things they take with them long after high school and make them better citizens, leaders, and people.”
Members of the Scripps Ranch High School JROTC team were Cadets Gracie Richards, Michelle He, Joonhyuk Lee and Jackwin Hui.
The annual competition is open to all 121,000 AFJROTC cadets and is one of several co-curricular activities that make the JROTC program much more than a classroom-only program. Military leaders present for the final round at this year’s competition and expressing their support for JROTC programs were Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Daniel Allyn, Army retired Lt. Gen. Benjamin Freakley and Army retired Maj. Gen. Wallace Arnold.
While in Washington, D.C., cadets took advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tour many historic sights and memorials, such as the Smithsonian museums, the White House and Congress.