CHS Japanese students sweep Olympiad: CHS swept all three levels at the Japanese Olympiad of Indiana at DePauw University in Greencastle on Saturday. Pictured are, front row, Anna Pesut, Clay Thomas, Dan Banghart, Matt Blackard and Kiriko Tanaka. Back row, Marie Queen, Rebecca Oddi, Julia Puent, Storm Anderson, Marie Kosakowski, Andy Bailey, Zack Wagner, Jack Conrick, Dylan Harmison and Chuck Cook. (Photo provided)

CHS swept all three levels at the Japanese Olympiad of Indiana at DePauw University in Greencastle on Saturday.

The Japanese Olympiad of Indiana is an academic competition for second, third and fourth-year students with categories including speaking, culture, kanji (Chinese characters), proverbs, listening, history and onomatopoeic expressions.

The CHS fourth-level team of Andy Bailey, Rebecca Oddi and Marie Queen defeated Bloomington South and Western in the final round. The team finished second last year. Zack Wagner was the team’s alternate.

Winning the third-level competition was a team made up of Clay Thomas, Dylan Harmison and Anna Pesut. The team defeated Bloomington South and Valparaiso. The other CHS third-year team of Jack Conrick, Dan Banghart and Chuck Cook barely missed the final round.

In the second-level final, Marie Kosakowski, Julia Puent and Storm Anderson defeated Bloomington North and Bloomington South. Matt Blackard was the team’s alternate.

Fifty-four teams from sixteen high schools competed in this year’s competition. During the competition, team members had an opportunity to participate in Japanese modern and traditional cultural activities, which included making onigiri (rice balls), origami, movies, video games, hanafuda card game, and other activities. Exchange student and assistant coach, Kiriko Tanaka, also accompanied the teams.

Posted 3/3/2008