Michigan City High School Students Compete in 2016 Japanese Olympiad

MCHS-Japanese-Olympiad-2016Fifteen MCHS students traveled to Ball State University on Saturday, February 27 to take part in the Japanese Olympiad of Indiana.

Michigan City High School was among 12 high schools competing in the day-long tournament, including Blackford, Bloomington North, Carroll, Chesterton, Connersville, Elkhart Memorial, Highland, City, Muncie Central, North Central, Penn, and Valparaiso.

The Olympiad tournament features separate competitions for Level 2, 3, and 4 students, depending on how many years of Japanese the students have studied. They compete in a playoff against all other schools at the same level with only the top 3 scoring teams advancing to the final. The competition is judged by Japanese professors who are native speakers from IU, IUPUI, Ball State, Purdue, DePauw, and Earlham College. Michigan City High School students Sarah Lynch and Tyler Westman competed at Level 4. The MCHS Level 3 team of Shelly Enriquez and Eryn Sitar barely missed making the final round by a question-and-a-half, placing 6th in state overall.

At Level 2, City had two teams. Brien Rissman and Angel Darschewski placed 10th in a field of 16, while a second team of Alexis Barth, Samantha Lanier, and Lauren Werner, competed against the eventual first place team from North Central in their playoff, missing the final by only 2 questions and placing 6th in state.

Former MCHS competitors Joanna Warnke and Preston Mahaffey and Level 4 student Tara Foley participated as volunteer coaches, and Level 1 students Miranda Braniger, Charles Shaw, and Kiara Stansil attended the tournament as well.

During the tournament, competitors and spectators had the chance to learn about various aspects of Japanese culture, notably performances of the traditional Japanese instrument the koto, and sparring and practice by members of the Mudowan Kendo Club, which draws members from across Indiana.

The Japanese Olympiad is sponsored by the East Asian Studies Center of Indiana University, the Association of Indiana Teachers of Japanese, the Consulate General of Japan of Chicago, and the Department of Modern Languages and Modern Classics of Ball State University. Participants had the opportunity to meet with other students of Japanese from around the state, gathering information about Japanese studies at various Indiana colleges, and testing their skills.