La Salle Academic Decathlon Team Wins Big at International Tournament

(Left to Right) La Salle “World Scholars”Joshua Ng, Kees Hood, Samantha Grijalva, Kate Mena, Gwyneth Schoenbaum and Katie Nuzzi. – Courtesy photo / La Salle

Six students from La Salle College Preparatory Academic Decathlon team garnered 39 medals in the World Scholars Cup (WSC) Tournament of Champions at Yale University. Two Lancer trios competed against over 400 other teams from 58 other countries. The WSC competition is comprised of four separate events: a Scholars Challenge which is an arduous 120-question multiple choice test on six different subjects, a collaborative essay involving all members of the team, three team debates, and a Scholars Bowl which is a combination of game show and audio-visual madness.  These six Lancers had competed in the Global Round in Sydney, Australia, and advanced to the annual Tournament of Champions at Yale. This is the third consecutive year that a team from La Salle has qualified for this ultimate competition.

The team comprised of seniors Gwyneth Schoenbaum, Joshua Ng, and Samantha Grijalva finished in 69th place overall. Individually, they won 11 gold medals and seven silver medals. Together they finished in 26th place for the team challenge, 70th place for the collaborative essay, and 69th overall for the team debate.

The team with seniors Kate Mena, Katie Nuzzi, and Kees Hood combined to win 11 gold medals and five silver medals. As a team, they finished in 19th place for the Team Challenge, which is the highest finish that either team received in any event.

This event completes the annual competition for these six students but they have not completed their academic competitions yet. In January and February these same Lancers (along with about 20 others) led by coach John Erb will vie in the Academic Decathlon competition at Alemany High School where they will compete against more than 40 teams from other private schools in the greater Los Angeles area.

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