BY TRACY LEE TATE
Times Editor
(Editor’s Note: Thanks go to Tiger Battalion Communications Officer Alexis Cox for compiling most of the information used in this article.)
Union County High School’s JROTC Leadership Team recently competed as finalists at the 2022 U.S. Army JROTC Leadership Bowl Championship, held June 19-23 on the campus of The Catholic University of America in Washington DC. The event was sponsored by the U.S. Army Cadet Command and conducted by the College Options Foundation.
The UCHS Team earned national finalist status, earning top scores out of 1,371 Army JROTC teams from around the world and was one of only 40 teams in the nation to advance to the final competition. They were one of only three teams from Florida to advance to the finals.
The first two phases of the competition were conducted online, testing the cadet’s knowledge of current events, leadership values and skills and financial literacy. The team’s scores on this portion of the competition earned them finalist status, which came with an all-expense paid trip to the championship event.
After the competition was finished, UCHS JROTC placed in the Top 20 and all of the cadets received two prestigious awards for qualifying as national finalists – the General George C. Marshall Award and the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award.
Needless to say, the cadets were well pleased with both the honor of competing in the finals and their performance in the competition. They also enjoyed experiencing the nation’s capital, where, in addition to competing, they visited many of the national monuments and seats of government.
“I was just excited for them to get this opportunity because it does not come around often,” said Sr. Army Instructor Lt. (Ret.) Col. Kevin Steverson. “It is neat to come from a rural community and experience something like this. It was very exciting.”
“Getting to go on this trip was one of the most rewarding things I’ve done,” said Cadet Emma Fulton. “Being from a small town we don’t get to see or even experience the things we did on this trip very often. This was my first time ever being on a plane and going to Washington, DC. We also got to go on the Metro and walk around a lot of the city. We got to see so many incredible things, including the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. It’s and experience I’ll never forget. It solidified my idea of wanting to go into the military and it made me all the more sure,” said Cadet Emma Fulton.
The team visited the Washington National Cathedral where each lit a candle to honor the memory of our nation’s POW’s and MIA’s.
“”It felt really honoring,” said Cadet Alexis Cox. “Being able to go into the cathedral at all was very honoring and being able to light a candle – It lights a candle inside of you.”
The cadets had the support of the Union County School District and the community.
“Everything around our community centers around the school system,” said Union County Superintendent of Schools Mike Ripplinger. “Our community has an extreme level of support for all activities, so they take great pride in seeing our cadets get to this level.”
