By CINDY WARNER / Special to the Reporter

VINCENT – After advancing through the first two phases of competition, the Vincent High School JROTC academic team composed of Mia Datcher, Toni Lee, Zulema Mendoza, Alayna Reynolds, Lillie Searcy, and Joe Worthy will compete in the final championship round of the 2018 Army JROTC Academic Bowl Championship in Washington D.C. The event will be held on the campus of The Catholic University of America on June 22-26, 2018.

The JROTC Leadership Symposium and Academic Bowl (JLAB) is a nationally recognized academic competition created exclusively for JROTC students. Participating cadets learn the values of citizenship, academic competition, and college opportunity.  The event is sponsored by Army JROTC and conducted by the College Options Foundation.

During two rounds of competitive online play, the Vincent High School JROTC team earned one of the top scores out of the 1,595 teams that competed from around the world to win a place in the National Academic Bowl competition and the trip to DC. In these two fast-paced rounds, students were tested on their knowledge using SAT/ACT-type questions in the areas of JROTC curriculum, English, math, and science. One of the main goals of the JROTC Academic Bowl is to prepare students for college entrance exams such as the SAT and ACT.

The Vincent team is one of only 32 Army Academic Bowl teams in the nation to advance to the JLAB finals this year, and the only team from Alabama to qualify.  Remarkably, this is the team’s fourth time to qualify for the JLAB finals in eight years. In each of the previous years, Vincent was the smallest public school to make it to the finals.

The winner of the Army JROTC Academic Championship will compete against the winners of the Air Force JROTC and Navy JROTC Academic Bowls in the JROTC Tri-Service Academic Bowl Championship.