Four students on Ida S. Baker’s JROTC team will compete with 24 other schools from across the United States in the championship round of the The College Options Foundation’s 2009 JROTC Leadership and Academic Bowl.
Alicia Duncan, Andres Ochoa, Kevin West and Derek West will compete at George Mason University in Washington, D.C., starting June 26.
Maj. Gordon Rodell said this is the team’s first year competing in the national bowl.
“There are 24 other teams from different parts of the country, two others from Florida,” he said.
In January, the JROTC team was chosen and began competing in the preliminary rounds. It faced off against 1,100 other students from other parts of the county and those at Department of Defense high schools overseas.
The Baker students moved on to the next competitive level with 500 other schools. They answered standard online questions on math, science, current events and English, as well as JROTC-related questions. Many are similar to questions found on the SAT or ACT.
Rodell said team members will be asked about the seven Army values of loyalty, dependability, responsibility, selfless service and integrity. They also will be quizzed on the mission and history of the JROTC.
“It’s kind of like where they sit at a desk and ask questions. It is timed, they get 30 to 45 seconds to come up with an answer,” he said. “They will have a laptop where they enter answers and the computer scores how many teams got it right.”
Over the weekend, the teams will face off and the squad that scores the highest will be named the winner. Second and third place teams also will be determined.
Later Sunday, the school will host an awards banquet, and on Monday students will have free time to tour the nation’s capital.
The College Options Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works with high school students on preparing to attend a college or university. It hands out $50,000 worth of scholarships and prizes to JROTC teams who win the national competition.
Finalists also receive an advanced education assistance package with how-to guides, counseling services, tutoring opportunities and scholarship searches.