For the first time in school history, Ravenwood High’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) is sending three teams to national competitions.
The Ravenwood Raptor Battalion had two teams qualify for the National Academic and Leadership Bowl competition in Washington, D.C. In June, the Academic team, which includes Manvik Barkakti, Dave Nigam, Camden Walker and Erin Fikri, and the Leadership team, which includes Eva Mohl, Kalina Vikre, Anthony Giallella and Javier Fereira, will be flown to the nation’s capital to compete against teams from across the country. Only the top 32 teams get the opportunity to participate in the national competition.
The JROTC Robotics team will return to Dallas as the reigning champion of the JROTC National Robotics Championship. This team includes Pranav Vijayanand, Rijul Tandon, Soaham Poonia, Vatsen Dikshit and Ishan Mukherjee. The RHS JROTC is led by retired Chief Warrant Officer 4 Rus Hays.
“Sending three different teams to three different national competitions in the same year is unprecedented, especially when you consider that these tournaments are invitational,” said Hays. “Last year, the Raptor battalion send two teams, so this makes for a total of five national competitions in two years.”
