JROTC plans to win Central’s first JLAB competition in D.C.

Central is know for being one of the best academic schools in Omaha Public Schools (OPS,) and now the JROTC academic team has proven this. Central’s team is one of the top 32 in the country and is going to the Washington D.C. championship from June 22^nd to the 26^th. They plan to win and bring home the first win in the JLAB championships.

Central has made it to the championships once before in 2010. This was with the leadership team, which is based on knowledge of JROTC curriculum and leadership theories rather than ACT and current event knowledge. Eight years ago, Central placed 18^th in the entire country.

Just like the leadership competition, the academic bowl has three stages. Stage one is in November, where every team in the U.S. can take the test, which is 25 percent JROTC questions, 65 percent ACT questions, and 10 percent current event questions. In the second level, the top half of teams take a second test in February, and this test has more emphasis on the ACT section. Finally, the top 32 teams advance to the stage three in Washington D.C. “I am looking forward to go to Washington D.C. mostly because of the sightseeing,” The team captain for this year’s team junior Shar Soe, said.

Central’s students didn’t get to be on of the top academic schools in the country without some work. LTC Mike Melvin, the team instructor, said, “You can see it is all about the kids because we started competing in 2006, and now 12 years later this is our first time for the academic team going to Washington D.C.” The four members (Shar Soe, Anthony Bonner, Aidan Marhenke, and Alex Garabrandt)  and two alternates (Sa Hay Mu and Gloria Taw) had to agree to be committed to the team, get a high score on the academic practice tests, and be younger than a senior. This is the criteria for all team members except for the captain, which is picked by the captain of the previous team leader.

These students must study for the three types of questions, typically about three to four hours a week. They spend time reviewing ACT practice tests, JROTC textbooks, and curriculum they can study online. For current events, Melvin send them to major news websites such as CNN and FOX News and pick out the important and influential events they need to know.

Although much of the team’s time will be spent studying, they will also go sightseeing. “Team get an all expense paid trip for five days to Washington, stay at a university, and go sightseeing. We will visit most big sites such as the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial, White House, and Smithsonian Museum,” Melvin said.

All in all, Central’s win would inspire the students and add another record to the ever-growing list, but for Melvin, winning would mean a bit more. “I will have immense pride. If we win, it would validate the thing we do, I will be more proud and happy for the kids, they do the work, I just facilitate, my part is easy. Really, seeing the kids how excited they were when they found out they made it meant a lot.”