Story and Photos by: Donna Hahn
Washington, D.C. – On June 26, 2023, Joint JROTC Services participated in the 2023 Academic Bowl National Championship Awards Ceremony. This event started in November 2022 with more than 12,000 Cadets on more than 3,000 Joint Service JROTC Academic Teams. In attendance this year were the top 260 Cadets on 65 Academic Teams that qualified to participate. After an amazing week of academic competition, this year’s 2023 Academic Bowl Champions was Navy JROTC Troy High School from Fullerton CA.
All service branch academic teams received a gift bag containing, the Marshall Medal. This medal is only given to the top 275 Cadets out of over 6,000 nationwide. Each Cadets received a brand-new ribbon, The United Services Automobile Association Educational Foundation Ribbon. This new ribbon will now be available for all Cadets that participate in the online JLAB practice test.
United States Army Cadet Command, Major General Andy Munera and Command Sergeant Major Roy Young were in attendance to issue 2 ROTC scholarships and personally hand all awards to these amazing Cadets. This year’s scholarship recipients were, ROTC Cadet Jena Farris and ROTC Cadet Michael Basenback.
Congratulations to the outstanding Cadets on winning these amazing scholarships.
Army JROTC Academic Team Champion was Lowell High School from San Francisco, CA. The 2nd place Army JROTC team was Jefferson Co High School from Dandridge, TN and 3rd place Army JROTC was Davenport High School from San Antonio, TX (not in attendance).
Marine Corps JROTC Academic Team Champion Marine Military Academy from Harlingen, TX. The 2nd place Marine Corps JROTC team was Okkodo High School from Dededo, Guam and 3rd place Marine Corps JROTC Redmond High School from Redmond, OR.
Navy JROTC Academic Team Champion was Troy High School from Fullerton, CA. Troy High School won the 2023 Academic Team Championship during the final round of competition. The 2nd place Navy JROTC team was Hilton Head Island High School from Hilton Head SC and 3rd place Navy JROTC Liberty High School from Renton, WA.
Air Force JROTC Academic Team Champions was Springboro High School from Springboro, OH. The 2nd place Air Force JROTC team was Wasatch High School from Heber City, UT and 3rd place Air Force JROTC Crescenta Valley High School from La Crescenta, CA.
Coast Guard JROTC Academic Team Lucy G Beckham High School from Mount Pleasant, SC.
The 2023 COL Carlos R. Glover “Mega Hooah” Esprit de Corps Award winner from Army JROTC was Rockford Auburn High School from Rockford, IL.
Army JROTC Academic Teams
Marine JROTC Academic Teams
Navy JROTC Academic Teams
Air Force Academic Teams
All Joint Service Representatives that spoke to the Cadets at the 2023 JLAB Academic Bowl Award Ceremony.
This year’s keynote speaker was Cadet Ayiana Woodman. A former JROTC graduated from Benson High School Magnet. She shared her amazing story how JROTC helped her through High School while facing a rough childhood. United States Army Cadet Command, Major General Andy Munera starts the award ceremony with a coin toss.
The United States Army Brass Quintet opened the ceremony by playing the National Anthem while Continental Color Guard presented the colors.
