Michigan City High School Teams Finish Third in State Japanese Contest

japaneseolympiadteamTwo teams of students studying Japanese at Michigan City High School finished in third place at the Japanese Olympiad of Indiana, a day-long academic tournament held at Ball State University on March 2.

More than 150 students from 16 high schools took part in this year’s Japanese Olympiad, which was judged by professors from Ball State, Indiana University, Earlham, and DePauw. Students competed in separate divisions based on their years of experience in the study of Japanese (second, third, and fourth year Japanese). Teams performed translations and answered questions about Japanese proverbs, reading comprehension, geography, writing, history, current events, mathematics, and more.

At Level 2, the MCHS team of Sam Cooney, Allen Murray, and Preston Mahaffey qualified for the finals, and then finished third in the state. This is the first time a team from MCHS has advanced to the championship round at Level 2.

At Level 4, a veteran MCHS team made up of Theresa Saenz, Jaspar Miller, and Aaron Rehbein edged a team from Valparaiso High School to make the finals, and took third in the state in the championship round. This team won the JOI championship last year, when they competed at Level 3.

“Working with these students has been a joy and an inspiration,” said Mike Tsugawa, MCHS Japanese teacher and JOI Team Coach. “They set a great example for future competitors.”

This year, winning teams received a special honor: they were presented plaques by the Consul General from the Japanese Consulate in Chicago, who was in attendance. Also featured this year were Japanese musicians, who performed on three traditional Japanese instruments: the koto, shamiseni, and the zenidaiko.

In addition to the students on the two winning teams, several other MCHS students competed in the JOI. They included: Will Alexander, Rebecca LaFollette, Steven Siegmund, Kieri Everett, Kenneth Parish, Josh Summerlin, Cori Bracken, and Vincent Kolasa. (Teammate Jenna Davis was unable to attend due to illness.)

Michigan City High School has an active Japanese Club, which will host a delegation of students from Zama Sogo High School in Zama City, Japan, for two weeks beginning March 15.