The Chesterton High School Japanese Olympiad team won the state championship in the second-year division. This team has also taken third place in the third-year division, at Ball State University, which occurred on February 24. With this, the CHS Japanese Olympiad team has now won this team an incredible 23 state championships for the Japanese Olympiad and Japan Bowl. Coaches Akiko Tsugawa and John Sparks led their teams to success. Sparks and Tsugawa are extremely proud of their students who competed in this competition.
“This is a group of students who worked extremely hard, all of the teams, I was really happy with the effort that they put into this competition, and I am looking forward to next year,” Sparks said.
The CHS second-year team consists of students Brooklyn Guivas, Michael Izguerra, and Paxton Martinez. The CHS third-year team includes students Marrisa Roe, Emily Ponce, and Dave Ruoff.
The second-year team defeated Carroll and Highland in the final round and secured the state championship. The CHS third-year team finished in 3rd place, behind Penn and Carroll. The students that competed in this competition worked extremely hard and applied dedication, teamwork, and hard work to lead to their success.
“There were meetings after school twice a week, Sparks Sensei sent us all home with papers to study. After school I spent a lot of time studying and putting in a lot of effort to prepare myself for this competition,” junior Ruoff explained.
The process of this competition was stressful for the students, but they still managed to apply their knowledge and their dedication to the state championship. This win meant a lot to the students, as well as the coaches.
“I was so surprised, we did not think we were going to make it to the finals at all, this is the first achievement I have made this whole school year, I am so proud of our teams, and everyone who competed,” junior Ruoff exclaimed.
Chesterton High School congratulates the Japanese Olympiad team and wishes them luck in the future!
