Shawnee Mission North High School from Overland Park, Kansas, was crowned the 2016 Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps National Academic, Athletic and Drill Champion on board Naval Air Station Pensacola April 1-2.

The 24 NJROTC units, representing 13 states from coast to coast, were challenged on their athleticism, tested in academics and evaluated on the drill deck during the competition held at the Naval Air Technical Training Center's Chevalier Hall.

Rear Adm. Stephen C. Evans, commander, Naval Service Training Command, presented participation certificates to all 24 schools and then presented overall trophies to the top five units at an awards ceremony at the National Museum of Naval Aviation after the competition was finished.

Evans had one word to describe the competition, "Awesome!"

"This was an incredible competition and it was honor to be here and witness all your hard work and dedication," Evans said. "You are all some of the finest examples of American citizens that I have ever seen."

NJROTC is a citizenship development program that instills in high school students and in U.S. secondary educational institutions the value of citizenship and service to the United States.

"This championship was a culmination of all the hard work we have put in the last four years," said Cadet Hope McAlexander, a senior at Shawnee Mission North High School. "We have an incredible team with a great group of seniors and excellent instructors."

This is the first overall championship for the Shawnee Mission North unit which consistently finishes in the Top Ten. This year the unit piled up 4,820 points to capture the title. Green Run (Virginia Beach, Virginia) High School came in second with 4,779 points. Last year's champion, Boca Raton (Florida) High School finished third with 4,695 points. Centennial (Las Vegas) High School was fourth with 4,645 points and Escambia (Pensacola) rounded out the Top Five with 4,633 points.

"I am so proud of my team," said retired Marine Corps Chief Warrant Officer 4 Dennis Grayless, senior naval science instructor at Shawnee Mission North High School. "This justifies and sustains the fact that if you work for something you will achieve it. They work, work, work and we had a lot of great seniors leading them. They embody traits of selflessness and sacrifice."

The personnel inspections, color guard and the drill events at the competition were judged by Navy recruit division commanders and Marine Corps drill instructors from Officer Training Command, Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island.

"It is an honor for us to come down and judge this huge event for these cadets," said Marine Corps Master Sgt. Charles Moore, chief drill instructor at Navy Officer Candidate School. "Speaking on behalf of the judges, the amount of discipline and drive in these cadets was phenomenal with a definite wow factor. It's exciting to see all the hard work the cadets put in."

In addition, Marines from Marine Aviation Training Support Group-21 assisted in judging the armed rifle exhibition, while Sailors from the Navy Recruiting Orientation Unit at NAS Pensacola judged the curl-up and push-up portions of the competition.

Approximately 26 of 573 NJROTC units worldwide qualify for the national competition annually.

"This year's competition was fantastic with an exciting and close finish," said J.D. Smith, director and NJROTC program manager. "It's always great to see the caliber of units that participate in the competition. We crowned a new champion and that capped off an excellent year for the program."

Smith added, "The NJROTC Nationals remain the most comprehensive test of overall JROTC training and performance in existence today. This year, many of the nation's finest NJROTC units from across the United States were part of this exciting, two-day academic, athletic and drill competition."

Other NJROTC units participating in this year's Nationals included: Nease (Ponte Vedra, Florida); Charles W. Flanagan (Pembroke Pines, Florida) High School; Pine Forest (Pensacola) High School; Northmont (Clayton, Ohio) High School; Norview (Norfolk) High School; Colts Neck (New Jersey) High School; Gaither (Tampa, Florida) High School; Southwest (San Antonio) High School; Hamilton (Ohio) High School; Cape Fear (Fayetteville, North Carolina) High School; Zion-Benton Township (Zion, Illinois) High School; Salem (Virginia Beach, Virginia) High School; Richland Northeast (Columbia, South Carolina) High School; Marine Academy of Science and Technology (Sandy Hook, New Jersey); Willard (Missouri) High School; Cocke County (Newport, Tennessee) High School; Sprayberry (Marietta, Georgia) High School; Terry Parker (Jacksonville, Florida) High School; Atlantic City (New Jersey) High School.

The NJROTC, or Citizenship Development, program is currently under the direction of Rear Adm. Evans and his NSTC staff, headquartered on Naval Station Great Lakes.

In addition to regular classroom instruction, NJROTC cadets participate in a number of extra-curricular activities throughout the school year and during the summer months that are designed to stimulate learning by hands-on experiences and to reinforce the program's curriculum. Cadet extra-curricular activities include community service projects, drill competitions, academic competitions, visits to naval installations, and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) training.

The NSTC command oversees 98 percent of initial officer and enlisted accessions training for the Navy. This includes the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps at more than 160 colleges and universities, Officer Training Command at Naval Station Newport, Recruit Training Command, the Navy's only boot camp, at Great Lakes, as well as NJROTC.

For more information about NSTC, visit http://www.netc.navy.mil/nstc/ or visit the NSTC Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/NavalServiceTraining/.

For more news from Naval Service Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/.