Marmion Academy wins JROTC Leadership and Academic Bowl

Marmion Academy’s JROTC Academic Team has successfully defended the school’s National Title winning the 2011 JROTC Leadership and Academic Bowl held June 24-28 at George Mason University in Washington, D.C.

In fact, this is the second consecutive year that Marmion placed first in this competition. The team of Mitchell Heaton of Batavia, Sam Eallonardo of Yorkville, Jon Rios of North Aurora, John Sieben of Aurora and alternates Sam Ford of Geneva and Alex Purcell of Batavia also won the prestigious Tri-Service Award after defeating the top teams from all divisions of Army, Air Force, and Navy/Marines.

Of 328,000 Army JROTC cadets nationwide — and a few select Department of Defense Schools worldwide — 18,000 competed in a national academic competition with only 41 continuing on to compete in the Tri-Service Academic Bowl championship held at George Mason University June 24-28 in conjunction with the annual Army JROTC Leadership Conference attended by an additional 200 leading cadets representing approximately 64 schools.

“A lot of studying and academic preparation went into this year’s competition,” said Marmion Academy Cadet Mitchell Heaton, 17, academic team leader and incoming senior. “With our peer-to-peer projects, it’s great knowing that our hard work will also help somebody else out in the long run. We have a lot of brilliant students in our battalion preparing for next year’s academic competition, and I’m ready to help train them up and hand over the reigns.”

The Army JROTC Leadership and Academic Bowl is hosted each year by College Options Foundation, an organization dedicated to enriching the academic development of high school students and assisting them in their preparation for higher education.

“Using academic competitions, college exam study guides, college admissions tutorials and personalized counseling, we have assisted thousands of students to attain their dreams of attending college,” said Terry Wilfong, founding president of College Options Foundation.

The foundation’s academic competitions are designed to challenge and prepare high school students for college entrance exams using a fast-paced Internet-based program designed by i.d.e.a.s. at Disney-MGM Studios. The foundation’s JROTC Academic Challenge tests cadets on their knowledge of JROTC curriculum, high school math, science and language arts.

“JROTC has influenced my choice of college,” Heaton said, “It showed me life options in the service, helped build my leadership skills, and given me some incredible life experiences that I can’t compare to anything else.”

Throughout the duration of the conference, Cadets collaborated on peer-to-peer mission projects, building innovative educational software to assist more than one million high school JROTC students annually on standardized testing and general high school curriculum. Partnering with Marvel comics, and Disney MGM Studios, these programs will assist JROTC kids around the world in their academic endeavors.

Marmion’s team is coached by Maj. Mark Emerson, director of Marmion’s JROTC program. For more information on the leadership programs available at Marmion Academy, visit marmion.org.

Sign up now for Cadet Classic: The 28th annual Cadet Classic will take place on Friday, July 22, at Bliss Creek Golf Club in Sugar Grove. The alumni association is looking for sponsors and players to participate in this annual event. Come and be a part of the fellowship and golfing.The price of $125 per player includes lunch, cart rental, 18 holes of golf and a steak dinner. Visit www.marmion.org and download the form. Fax it to (630) 897-9916 or mail to Marmion Academy, 1000 Butterfield Road, Aurora, IL 60502-9742. Reservations are due Friday, July 8.