An Air Force Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps team with one Valencia High School junior and three Academy of the Canyons juniors has advanced to the 2026 JROTC Leadership and Academic Bowl Championship at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in June.
Valencia High junior Adrian So, one of the four members of the team, said the academic bowl is about 70% SAT and ACT questions covering topics in mathematics, science and English. It also covers things like current events.
“So, you need to also practice for JLAB. (It) makes you really in tune with history and politics. Because a lot of it goes into specifically American history. Like, ‘Oh, who is the president of this at this time?’ What happened at this event?’ So, there’s a lot of, also, trivia,” So said.
So said going to JLAB has been a dream of his since his freshman year.
So added that his team practices sometimes up to five hours after school and that they practice with each other using buzzers as if they were at the competition.
So said that they all have specific roles that play to their strengths – his strength is mathematics.
When asked how it feels getting the opportunity to compete, So said he is scared but excited.
“Like when I step into those doors, I want to see that trophy as something that we’ve earned. Not something my seniors have earned, right,” So said. “It’s honestly kind of stressful because we have that pressure, too. But, you know, like they say, pressure makes diamonds, right? Like, it’s the pressure that counts. So, we’re really preparing for it.”
In addition to So, the team includes Sricharan Vagvala, Jeffrey Feng and Ishan Vaish.
