Thomas Walker High School’s Army JROTC Academic Team traveled to George Mason University, in Fairfax, Va., to compete in the National Championship of the Army Cadet Command Academic Bowl. The team placed fifth overall in the competition.

TWHS sent four cadets — Brittany Brashear, Cara Livesay, Austin Rigdon, and Team Captain Stephen Bost — to compete against 23 other Army JROTC teams that, like them, passed through two other qualifying competitions to get to the finals. Unlike most of the teams who brought juniors and seniors, and came from large private schools numbering over 1000 students, TWHS’s JROTC team consisted of freshmen and sophomores; a situation that proved pivotal as the many of the questions in the final rounds were upper level academic questions that are normally taught in junior or senior level high school classes.

Accompanying the team was Master Sergeant (Ret) Rodger Moore (TWHS Army JROTC Instructor), his wife Jennifer, and TWHS Principal Terry Welch.

The competition was extremely tough as teams from as far away as Germany and the Pacific Islands met head to head in a “Jeopardy” style format. The questions ranged from Shakespearian literature to trigonometry.

“In the finals, one of the schools competing against TWHS was a private senior academy with over 2000 students in grades 11 and 12. Thomas Walker, with just over 270 students in grades 9-12 proved that academic skill does not depend on the size of the school or the wealth of the community. The TWHS cadet’s academic knowledge was every bit as good as the schools they competed with,” said retired MSgt. Rodger Moore.

The TWHS cadets won nine of ten rounds in the opening competition. They were one of only four teams to achieve this record on the first day of competition of the 24 teams competing. Twelve teams moved on to the first round of the semi-finals. Eight teams, to include TWHS, moved on to the second round of the semi-finals. It was here that TWHS was handed their second loss; by a mere five points. Their record of 10 and 2 at the National Championship placed them in the top six teams in the nation and won them the respect of the other 23 teams as well as all who watched them progress from round to round.

In addition to the intense competition, the cadets enjoyed the hospitality of George Mason University, where they stayed each night, ate and competed each day. They were treated to several galas where the Commanding Generals of the US Army Accessions Command, US Army Cadet Command, US Army Corps of Engineers, the Director of the College Options Foundation, as well as several other dignitaries addressed them with words of wisdom and advice.

The cadets were given time off from their extremely busy schedule to see the sights in the Washington D.C. area. They visited many of the nations most honored monuments and buildings, like the Washington Monument, Arlington Cemetery, the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, just to mention a few.

“Over all the cadets performance was outstanding” said Terry Welch, TWHS principal, “they out performed schools that were five times our size and ended up as one of the top JROTC Academic Teams in the nation. They represented our school and Lee County, Virginia as well as any team that has left our area to compete. “ I could not have been prouder of our cadets”, stated MSG (RET) Rodger Moore, the cadets Army Instructor and Academic Team coach. “The kid’s courage in the face of these large, wealthy schools was impressive. They trained hard leading up to the competition and their hard work paid off. I fully expect our young team to return to the National Championships again next year”.

“This event tops off a banner year for the TWHS Army JROTC Pioneer Battalion” stated LTC (RET) Mark Caruso, Senior Army Instructor at TWHS.

In addition to attending the J-LAB National Championship, earlier in the year the Pioneer Battalion was presented with the Army’s highest unit award of “Honor Unit with Distinction” achieving 998 points out of 1000 possible points during their Formal Cadet Inspection. This year is the fifth year in a row that they have been selected for this award and two of the unit’s cadets received national level ROTC scholarships to college this year, worth over $270,000 in combined scholarships earned. Additionally, the unit won over 20 team trophies for their efforts at regional JROTC competitions held throughout the 08-09 school year.

“We are looking forward to the challenges and opportunities next school will present, said LTC Caruso. “ I fully expect our cadets to put forth the same or greater effort and achieve things they never dreamed possible. That is what JROTC is all about.”