Tuscaloosa City Schools JROTC Team Qualifies For National Competition In D.C.

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Tuscaloosa City Schools (TCS) on Wednesday announced that its Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) team has qualified for the national JROTC Leadership and Academic Bowl.

Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter and breaking news alerts.

This marks the second year in a row the team has qualified for the national competition, with the Paul W. Bryant Marine Corps JROTC made up this year of members from Northridge High School.

The TCS JROTC team is one of only eight teams in the nation to advance to the final competition, which includes an all-expense paid trip to Washington, DC. in June.

“I’m really excited for this team because they are so young,” Senior Marine Instructor Jason York said. “Most of the teams at the championship will be composed entirely of upperclassmen, some of whom have multiple appearances at the competition. To have a team that is all freshmen and one junior is a great accomplishment for them and will hopefully be the start of a long run."

TCS says the team advanced after two elimination rounds of online competition to claim its spot at the national championship — earning top scores out of the 141 MCJROTC academic teams that competed. The competition consists of cadets being tested on their knowledge of core curriculum such as math, science, and language arts as well as current events, citizenship, leadership skills and financial literacy.

Team captain and 11th-grader Faith York is the only returning member from last year’s team that also qualified for the national competition for only the second time in Bryant JROTC history.

Faith York is joined by freshmen teammates Caleb Schemel, Helen Hall, Camilla Fleming, and Adriana Mulul-Ralios.

“I’m happy to get another chance to compete in DC because the whole competition experience was amazing, and I hope to reconnect with some of the friends I made there,” she said. “Going for the first time last year to compete, everything was a little overwhelming and intimidating, and we didn’t do as well as we wanted to. But I learned a lot and am definitely feeling more confident about our chances this year, especially with the dedicated team we have.”

Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of the latest sponsors for Tuscaloosa Patch? Email all inquiries to me at ryan.phillips@patch.com