Cadet major Arthi Gouravelli walked into Middleton High School\u2019s open house as a wide-eyed incoming freshman with little idea what JROTC was. She stopped at the table mostly on a whim. A friend was there, the class seemed easy enough and it sounded like a decent way to ease into high school life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I knew what JROTC was, but I never really thought it would be something I dedicate my time to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Three years later, that spur-of-the-moment decision has carried her to the top of a global stage.<\/p>\n
Gouravelli, a junior at Middleton and a New Tampa resident, has been named the national recipient of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution JROTC Award, ranking her among the top JROTC cadets in the world.<\/p>\n
The honor places her atop a field of more than 600,000 JROTC students enrolled in roughly 3,400 programs worldwide across all branches of the U.S. Armed forces. <\/p>\n
While that sounds like something on the resume of someone raised in a military family and destined for a uniform, Gouravelli laughs.<\/p>\n
New Tampa\u2019s Arthi Gouravelli is the recipient of National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution JROTC Award, ranking her among the top JROTC cadets in the world. The honor places her atop a field of more than 600,000 JROTC students enrolled in roughly 3,400 programs worldwide across all branches of the U.S. Armed forces. [\u00a0Photos courtesy of ARTHI GOURAVELLI\u00a0]<\/p>\n
While the biomedical magnet student \u2014 who also received $6,000 for winning national honors \u2014 said she may join the National Guard or reserves one day and that a career in the military isn\u2019t in the cards for her, she said participating in the JROTC was one of the best decisions she ever made.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve spent the last week just thinking, like, \u2018Oh my God, that one choice has brought me to this point\u2019, and I couldn\u2019t be any happier that I made it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
At a state luncheon last month, Gouravelli met with the SAR State Council and was recognized for top Florida honors. She didn\u2019t even get back to her seat before they called her back to the podium to tell her she also just won national honors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had no idea when the national results were coming out,\u201d she said. \u201cMy instructors didn\u2019t know. My parents didn\u2019t know. I think I\u2019d definitely say I\u2019ve had my fair share nervous moments throughout the whole process. So, once I finally did get the award, it was like a super overjoyed moment for me and my family, and especially my instructors.\u201d<\/p>\n
JROTC turned out to be much more than just your regular old elective for Gouravelli. She did go into the program looking to develop her leadership skills, but it wasn\u2019t long before she discovered it offered other things that appealed to her.<\/p>\n
Middleton\u2019s Air Force JROTC program emphasizes not only leadership, she said, but discipline, basic military drills and aerospace education also make up a large part of the program.<\/p>\n
Over time, that combination of structure and service reshaped how Gouravelli saw herself and her future.<\/p>\n
New Tampa\u2019s Arthi Gouravelli is the recipient of National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution JROTC Award, ranking her among the top JROTC cadets in the world. The honor places her atop a field of more than 600,000 JROTC students enrolled in roughly 3,400 programs worldwide across all branches of the U.S. Armed forces. [\u00a0Photos courtesy of ARTHI GOURAVELLI\u00a0]<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the core things you learn is taking time out of your day to go help others and being a good leader, being a good communicator, discipline,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, I think that plays a really big role in how I got here, because I do also really emphasize those values, and those values are a daily responsibility for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Middleton, Gouravelli serves as Mission Support Squadron Commander, overseeing logistics and helping guide the unit\u2019s operations. She has acted as master of ceremonies for the unit\u2019s annual awards program.<\/p>\n
But her accomplishments go far beyond just JROTC.<\/p>\n
She captained Middleton\u2019s Joint Leadership and Academic Bowl Championship (J-Lab) team, which competes in leadership and academic competitions and advanced to nationals in Washington D.C.<\/p>\n
Gouravelli also takes part in Future Business Leaders of America and HOSA-Future Health Professionals, serves as the president of Middleton\u2019s Indian fusion dance team and has logged more than 300 volunteer hours with organizations including Feeding Tampa Bay and Books for Africa.<\/p>\n
Gouravelli, 17, was born in Bradenton and moved to Tampa as an infant. She ranks in the top 10% of her class, a qualification that was also necessary for her award.<\/p>\n
Her current plans point towards college, likely studying finance before pursuing law school or a career in international advocacy. <\/p>\n
Whatever path she chooses, she says JROTC, and that chance visit to a table during a high school open house, will always be a big part of her story.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think just the overall exposure to the military, its values of sacrificing and honor, and learning about the principles of American citizenship and how we\u2019ve gotten here historically has all changed me as a person,\u201d Gouravelli said. \u201cSo, I definitely think JROTC will still play a big role in my life after high school.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cadet major Arthi Gouravelli walked into Middleton High School\u2019s open house as a wide-eyed incoming freshman with little…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-301338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}