2025 Annual Scholarship Awards
May 13, 2025, at the North Carolina State University Club
Our annual Scholarship Awards Dinner to recognize local outstanding high school JROTC students who have been accepted into college ROTC programs was held on May 13 at the North Carolina State University Club, 4200 Hillsborough Avenue, Raleigh.
The two recipients of our 2025 Colonel William Frank Rawley Triangle Chapter MOAA JROTC scholarships are Reanna Pettaway and Bhargav Chowdary. Both of these high school seniors share similar experiences in their JROTC programs. They performed hundreds of hours serving their JROTC unit, their High Schools, and their community. They had “A plus” averages all four years of high school, taking numerous Advanced Placement and Honors courses. Additionally, they were both commanders of their High School JROTC units.
The Scholarship checks and certificates were presented by our guest speaker, Lt. Col. Sarah L. Bergkamp, the Commander and Professor of Aerospace Science (PAS) of the AFROTC Detachment at NC State Univ, and Col. Bob Penny.
This year, each recipient will receive $1500.
Our first awardee is Reanna Pettaway. Reanna is a member of the Southwest Edgecombe HS Air Force JROTC program in Pinetops. She served as the Commander of their JROTC unit, was on the JROTC competitive military drill team for four years and commanded their Color Guard for three years. Reanna was on the Varsity Soccer Team for four years and was the team captain for two years. She was on the men’s Varsity Wrestling team for one year and was the Captain of the Junior Varsity Cheer Leader Squad as a freshman. She was a member of the Future Farmers of America for four years and president for two years. She was on the 4-H Livestock Judging Team for two years. Reanna was the school’s Junior Class President, was a member of the National Honor Society and National Technical Honor Society. Reanna has been accepted to Louisiana State Univ., NC State Univ., and North Carolina A&T Univ. Reanna will enroll at NC State Univ. and be a cadet in their Air Force ROTC Detachment. In addition to our MOAA Scholarship, Reanna has been awarded the Sonny S. Brantley Memorial Scholarship of $800, The Eastern Carolina Livestock Show and Sales Scholarship for $2700 and the GW Carver Scholarship for $2000. Her mother Cornelia Jenkins and her aunt Connie Jenkins joined us for this presentation.
Our second awardee is Bhargav Chowdary. Bhargav is a member of the Enloe HS Army JROTC program in Raleigh. He served as their Battalion Commander for two years, was on their competitive Drill Team and Color Guard that placed high in National competitions. Bhargav was on the JROTC Leadership and Academic Bowl Team as Captain for three years which also ranked high in National competitions. He was on the Enloe Varsity Wrestling Team and is a Taekwondo 2nd degree Black Belt. He is a member of the National Honor Society and Enloe’s Computer Science Honor Society. Bhargav set up a tutoring program for at-risk students at Enloe -- bringing in scholars from the Key Club and National Honor Society to assist low-performing students. He is a three-time American Computer Science League Senior Finalists, a two-time CyberStart America Silver Medalists, and a top five finalist in the Ready Set App Coding Competition. Additionally, he is currently enrolled at Wake Tech Community College in their Business Administration program with a 4.0 GPA. Bhargav has been accepted to NC State Univ., the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Southern California. He will attend the University of Southern California and be in their Army ROTC Detachment on an Army, three-year scholarship valued at $100,000. He also earned the National Merit Scholarship at $20,000 per year. Bhargav’s mother Roopa Yalamanchili, his father Ravi Sunchu and his sister Meena Chowdary joined us for this presentation.