A panel of judges representing women of achievement in the church, business and the nonprofit sector met Jan. 26 at TMI Episcopal to judge this year’s candidates for Military Ball Queen. Eligible students are senior female members of the school’s Corps of Cadets (JROTC); they are judged on bearing, presentation, poise, professionalism and record of activities and leadership within the Corps.

Known as Sweethearts, this year’s Queen candidates are Cadet Capt. Jessica Cox, Battalion Logistics/Supply Officer; Cadet 2 nd Lt. Lorelei McDowell, Assistant Publicity and Recruitment Officer; Cadet Capt. Juliana Martinez, Battalion Publicity and Recruitment Officer; and Cadet Maj. Trinity Walker, Battalion Executive Officer.

The queen will be announced and crowned at the Military Ball, to be held Feb. 2 at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort. She takes part in a traditional Queen’s Waltz to lead off the evening’s dancing and will be invited to return next year to crown her successor.

Cox is the recipient of a Caroline Kampmann merit scholarship for senior females who have shown outstanding scholastic achievement and who have contributed significantly to the TMI community, a varsity swimmer, a Model UN delegate and was chosen to attend the 2018 Summer Seminar at the U.S. Naval Academy. McDowell is an officer in TMI’s chapter of the Spanish National Honor Society, earned honors in the 2018 National Spanish Exam and has played varsity basketball. Martinez is the recipient of an Alkek Scholarship, a full-tuition four-year merit award, is a member of the CyberPatriot team that qualified for national competition and played a featured role in last fall’s production of “Our Town.” Walker was a member of the Raiders (physical challenge) team that represented TMI at the 2018 U.S. Open JROTC Raider Challenge Championships, was a 2018 delegate to Texas Bluebonnet Girls State and had an artwork accepted into a juried exhibit, the Curated Fridge, in Boston, Mass.

Sweethearts judges were prepared at a luncheon with a Military Ball history presentation and a briefing on judging criteria, after which they met with each of the four candidates. Serving on the panel were: The Rt. Rev. Jennifer Brooke-Davidson, bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas; Shirley Crandall, owner of Crandall & Associates Inc. insurance agency and president of the National Association of Women Business Owners in San Antonio; and Jennifer Pinson, board vice chair of Girls Inc. and founder of REDBIRD Executive Group, consulting on sales strategies and business operations.

The TMI Military Ball first was held in 1965; the premier student social event of the year honors senior cadets and affords cadets and their dates with an opportunity to learn traditional military courtesies in a setting that includes a receiving line, dinner, dancing and a guest speaker.