2009 Academic Bowl Results

Pekin Community High School JROTC students once again came home with honors from the National JROTC Leadership Symposium and Academic Bowl in Washington, D.C., where they competed against 48 other teams.

The four members of the PCHS team — Cadet Sgt. Maj. Michael Lewis, Cadet Capt. Chris Kowalski, Cadet Lt. Col. Sheena Lee and Cadet Cpl. Allison Ginger — received the prestigious George C. Marshall JROTC Leadership Award and Medal. 

They also received a medal and ribbon from the General Douglas MacArthur Foundation. Their awards were presented by Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp, chief of engineers for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“The cadets were presented with the problem of defining the seven Army values—loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage —and relating the meaning to several memorials represented in the National Mall—in particular the Lincoln, Jefferson, World War II, Korean, Vietnam and the Women in Military Service,” said Chief Warrant Officer Jerry Becker, senior Army instructor.   “All of the cadets were taken to Arlington National Cemetery for education and reflection on the sacrifices of Americans in history. 

“A video was recorded at each memorial describing its place in history in relationship to the Army values it represents. The video will be professionally edited and distributed to over 1,600 JROTC programs for use in the curriculum and will be viewed by over 300,000 cadets worldwide,” Becker said.

“This was one of the best times of my life,” Cadet Lee said. “It was my first time in D.C.  It was amazing—but lots of walking.

“We made tons of new friends all over the country and came home with lots of e-mail addresses. It was an exciting time.”

The team stayed on the campus of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

(credit to Pam Keyes of the Pekin Daily Times)