Every year, a dedicated group of alumni commit their time to helping participants during the Summer Study and National Bible Bee Competition. Today, let’s meet Julia Cagasan, one of the members of the 2025 NBB Alumni Service Team!
Here are some quick facts to help you get to know Julia:
Where she’s from: Georgia
Age: 21
NBB Participation: 11 years as a summer participant (2011-2014, 2016-2022), 6 years at nationals as a contestant (2012-2014, 2017-2019)
Fun facts:
- My favorite animal is a red panda!
- I once made it to the semi-finals at a swing dance competition.
- I accidentally paddle boarded five miles on the ocean when I was a kid.
- I’m learning Portuguese right now and I love listening to kids’ songs in Portuguese!
What she’s doing now: Participating in NBB for eleven years gave me a deeper love for the Word of God that compelled me to do something about the millions of people who don’t have the Bible in their heart language. NBB set me on the trajectory of becoming a missionary pilot and mechanic to support Bible translators in remote areas around the world. So, I’m finishing up my last semester in aviation at Liberty University, where I also work as an aviation maintenance controller. I just got my private pilot license over spring break so now I’m trying to finish my goal of memorizing Psalm 119 before I graduate! I have four siblings (I know, only four) who are some of my best friends and I love making music and doing art with them. I also enjoy reading and writing when I’m not traveling all over the East Coast!
Hi, Julia! Welcome to the National Bible Bee Blog! Tell us about your NBB journey!
How did your family first become involved in the National Bible Bee?
My mom got an email back in 2009 from NBB and couldn’t remember how they got her email address. Nevertheless, she looked into it and signed my older sister up to compete in the first ever National Bible Bee Competition. She ended up making it to nationals in Washington D.C. and then in Chicago in 2010, when I got to attend with her. Because my older sister has always been a role model and inspiration to me, I couldn’t wait to be old enough to compete and was thrilled to get a yellow t-shirt in 2011. Nationals became our family vacation for several years when my sister and I competed, and my younger siblings are still participants!
Do you have a favorite National Bible Bee theme or study passage from the years you participated? Why is it one of your favorites?
Over the years, Philippians has continued to have a special place in my heart. Because I was able to spend so much time studying for nationals that year (2018), Philippians really saturated my heart and my mind. Turning the pages in my Bible to Philippians is like coming home, it’s where I turn to for comfort and encouragement out of default. Paul’s exhortations throughout the book are grounding reminders of what matters in life and what our goal should be. There are several key verses from Philippians that come to mind on a regular basis for different situations. Lately, Philippians 2:4, 21 have refocused me on the interests of others and Christ Jesus before my own. When we’re stressed, a friend and I use a phrase drawn from Philippians 4:7-9, “Peace of God in you and God of peace with you”. Paul’s prayers for the Philippians are also so appropriate to pray over friends and family so that we may share our joy with each other!
With the many verses you have memorized over the years, do you happen to have a favorite Bible verse?
I certainly can’t choose a singular verse out of the passages I’ve memorized, but I could choose a favorite chapter (that happens to include several of my favorite verses!): Romans 8. It’s the chapter I love to recite most because it has powerful reminders of foundational truths from the first verse to the last: there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, we are children of God, God causes all things to work together for good, we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us, and nothing can separate us from the love of God. Our understanding of who God is, who others are, and who we are can be rooted in this one chapter.
What have you found to be your favorite ways to study Scripture?
I really love doing word studies in Greek and Hebrew, thanks to NBB introducing them to me back when I was six! In my journaling Bible, I can take a key verse and diagram the key words – with a specific color code system that I love using (and is so large that I frequently reference the legend in the back of my Bible!). I’m also enjoying incorporating Portuguese into my devotions when I can, whether that’s reading a children’s Bible story book or copying out the Psalms in Portuguese. I want to be able to worship and learn alongside others in their heart language one day!
Can you share a favorite moment you’ve experienced while studying for NBB or attending the National Bible Bee Competition?
One of my favorite memories is actually a moment that I had dreaded for the longest time. As a competitor, I preferred the written test (when it was done at nationals) over oral recitations. Waiting my turn in prelims always had my stomach in knots. For the entire 2018 nationals season, I prayed that I would get to be one of the first people to recite in my group. At registration in San Antonio, I remember my heart sinking as I got my lanyard: I was the 10th or 11th person to recite. On the day of prelims, I anxiously went to my room and sat down against the wall, dreading the next hour. It was then that I met Josie, whose bright smile was contagious as we started talking. We quickly bonded over using the NASB version and proceeded to recite passages to each other, making the time fly by. The Lord heard my prayer all along but He answered it in a way that was far better than I could’ve ever asked or imagined. Instead of giving me a short oral recitation wait time, He gave me one of my best friends in life who has been the goodness of God to me for the past seven years! Scripture recitation became the foundation of our friendship, resulting in hours of video calls on Thursday afternoons during nationals season, and continuing in the form of voice memos even as we’re in college now.
What would you say to a participant who is newer to NBB and/or competing at Nationals for the first time?
Find the joy in reciting the word of God and never lose it. In 2017, one of my good friends was in semi-finals but got out after the first round. I found her afterward and told her I was sorry she didn’t make it further but I was so proud of her. Her response floored me, since I dreaded oral recitation rounds: “It’s okay, I just wish I could’ve gotten to recite more Scripture because it brings me so much joy.” Joy?! Reciting?! I was always nervous, I would never use that word to describe recitations!
It was that interaction that gave me the curiosity and determination to figure out what she meant. Instead of focusing on the perfection of each word and sentence, I started to find delight in the Word of God. As my love for Scripture grew, I couldn’t help but want to share it with others. Reciting became less about the time and the references and the prepositions and more of an overflow of the joy that the Lord gave me in His Word! Pray that the Lord will open your eyes and your heart to love His word because then He will open your mouth to proclaim it in joy!
Before you go, is there one thing you’ve taken away/learned from competing in the National Bible Bee Competition that you would like to share with everyone?
Never take the Bible in your language for granted. We have our fun little debates over which version we use – I personally use the Nationally Admitted Superior Bible (NASB, New American Standard Bible). But sometimes we need to stop and recognize what a blessing it is to have so many different versions available to us in a language that we understand.
It was the year of the endless Psalms passages when this realization struck me at my core. Pacing back and forth in my bedroom, I was trying to get one of those three-card passages memorized, saying the same words over and over and getting a little frustrated.
And then it hit me. I wasn’t just saying words strung together into a semi-coherent sentence. I wasn’t reciting a dictionary, or a textbook list for a test, or even a passionate poem. The words on my lips were the very words of God, divinely inspired and sharper than a two-edged sword.
Humbled and brought to my knees, I recognized the priceless treasure I held in my hands and in my heart. Not only could I read and memorize it in the language that my heart understood best, I had the freedom to speak it without fear of persecution if someone heard me.
It was that moment and many after that made me realize the incomparable value and transforming power of God’s Word. I would not be who I am today without it, yet there are millions who don’t have access to the Bible in their heart language. I can’t live my life and not do anything about that fact, which drives me to pursue mission aviation each day.
Never take the word of God in your heart language for granted, nor the freedom to read, memorize, and proclaim it.
Interview by NBB Alumna: Emma Fernandez
