Academic Bowl

The Academic Bowl is an annual competition sponsored by HQ AFJROTC, where nearly 900 AFJROTC units may compete to become finalists for the “Academic Bowl” Nationals held in Washington, DC. Teams competed in SAT subject areas like math, chemistry, history, and language arts. The competition format included presenting cadet teams with Jeopardy style questions; some of the questions were toss up questions presented to the competing teams by the judges, while other questions were draw questions where the cadets were allowed to choose questions for their opponents.
Our team was comprised of six cadets as follows: Ashley Cross-Team Captain, Sarah Sill, Dominic Hargreaves, Logan Hood, Rachel Nowak, and Erin Pennell. The Byrnes team completed the first level of competition finishing in the top 50% of over 200 competing teams. The second level of competition proved more challenging, but the Byrnes team was up to the challenge and became one of only 16 teams to make the cut to compete in the Nationals competition.
Now came the final test—a full day of competition, where by mid-day, the top 8 teams were selected as finalists, and once again Byrnes made the cut! In the final lap, Byrnes finished an impressive third place from over 200 original competing teams. An eye-watering awards ceremony recognized the winning teams, and the cadets could finally let their hair down and enjoy the sites of Washington, DC. The cadets enjoyed visits to China Town, and various museums and memorials throughout DC. In the final analysis, every team member felt a great degree of accomplishment from this experience, and represented Byrnes well in the competition and as ambassadors.

Ashlan Village

Once again, the Honors Flight had the opportunity to visit Ashlan Village, a local assisted living facility for the aged. Throughout the year, the cadets have grown close to the residents and the residents can’t seem to get enough time with the cadets. For example, Cadet Cody Martin visits each week with a lady named Ruth who is unable to leave her room due to her condition. A few cadets visit the Alzheimer’s wing and sing karaoke each week for their enjoyment. Cadets really have fun with the karaoke machine picking out their favorite tunes and putting on a show for the spectators. They usually leave Ashlan Village still singing and dancing to the songs they performed. Other cadets put on a game of bingo as the residents are finishing their breakfast—the residents thoroughly enjoy playing bingo and don’t want to be left out of any of the games. Cadet Profera says, “I really enjoy playing bingo because I like helping some of them by pointing out the numbers that they miss.” “I like sitting with the three ‘Ladies of Ashlan’ in the corner because they always make me laugh with their little comments they make here and there,” says Cadet Higginbotham. Cadets have had a great learning experience visiting the elderly each week. They have learned that getting old isn’t as scary as it seems, while at the same time they occasionally have to say goodbye to some of the residents who have passed away making it very painfully to get close to the residents. The elderly love to see young faces come visit them and share laughs and each other’s experiences with one another. Each visit is a refreshing time for both cadets and residents.