Francis Lewis Jr. ROTC heads to D.C. tourney
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Two groups of Fresh
Meadows high school
students are heading to the
nation’s capital to flex their
leadership and academic
skills this summer.
In April, Francis Lewis
High School announced that
members of their Junior
Reserve Officers’ Training
Corps (JROTC) team
qualified for the 2019 U.S.
Army National Leadership
Bowl and Academic Bowl
Championships. From June
21 to 25, the students will
go head-to-head against
dozens of other teams in
Washington, D.C.
The high school’s JROTC
Leadership Team advanced
through two levels of online
competition to qualify for
the National Leadership
Bowl in June. Members Syed
Abbas, Gregory Steward,
Matthew Shinh and Alvin
Ma outranked 1,350 Army
JROTC team from across the
nation with their knowledge
of current events, leadership
values and leadership skills.
According to FLHS, the
group is only one of 40 teams
in the U.S. to advance to the
final competition, which
includes an all-expense
paid trip to The Catholic
University of America
campus in D.C.
Four Francis Lewis
students also qualified for
the JROTC Academic Bowl
Championship, which will
also be held in Washington,
D.C. Ivy Zheng, Ethan Kim,
Christopher Li and Joyce
Huang made it through
two preliminary rounds
of competition, earning
top scores among 1,411
Army JROTC teams in
the competition.
The team is one of 32 to
make it through to the final
competition, which aims to
prepare students for exit and
graduation exams as well
as college entrance exams
like the SAT and ACT. Team
members were tested on a
range of topics including the
JROTC curriculum, English,
math and science.
Following the final
competition, the winner
The 2019 Francis Lewis High School Junior ROTC Academic Bowl team
Photo courtesy of Francis Lewis High School
of the U.S. Army JROTC
Academic Championship
will advance to the JROTC
Join Service Academic
Bowl Championship where
they will be pitted against
the winners of the Marine
Corps and Navy JROTC
Academic Bowls.
U.S. Army Cadet
Command, JROTC
Headquarters sponsors the
event, which is conducted
by the College Options
Foundation. The nonprofit
organization is dedicated
to enriching the academic
development of high
schoolers and preparing
them for higher education.
Both competitions are
slated to take place from
June 21-25 at the Catholic
University of America in
Washington, D.C.
Reach reporter Jenna
Bagcal by email at jbagcal@
qns.com or by phone at (718)
224-5863 ext. 214.
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