A Gold metal and enamel device 1 1/8 inches (2.86 cm) in height consisting of a shield blazoned: Vert a fess bretessed enhanced Or, a fleur-de-lis within a wreath of the like. Attached below the shield a Green scroll turned Gold and inscribed "STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE" in Gold letters.
Green and gold are the colors associated with Herbert Hoover High School. The bretessed fess suggests an embattlement which alludes to the military aspects of the ROTC program and also resembles the conjoined letters "H H H" for Herbert Hoover High or Hoover High Huskies of Herbert Hoover Huskies. The fleur-de-lis is symbolic of Des Moines, the location of the school, and the wreath refers to excellence and achievement provided by the school's curriculum.
The shoulder loop was approved on 28 April 1988.