Redondo Private School Scores in Decathlon

What follows is seemingly stale news -- the event occurred on March 15 -- but a) I just heard about it and b) it's still relevant and worth a hearty congrats to one local school.

Here goes: Redondo Beach-based St. Lawrence Martyr School landed in the top 10 -- from a total filed of 103 Catholic schools -- during the Los Angeles Archdiocesan Academic Junior High Decathlon held recently at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

The South Bay team placed 9th in the competition that includes challenges in mathematics, religion, social studies, fine arts, current events and science, as well as logic and super quizzes. In addition, several students scored well in individual categories: Molly Hunt placed 10th in religion; Kristen Lee placed 9th in fine arts, Michael Luna landed at 6th place in current events and Matthew Kurata scored a 4th place finish in science.

The team's head coach, Vivian Lee, reports that the kids worked diligently to prepare for the competition, “giving up their days off, coming in early and staying late."

Congratulating Lee and the entire team, school Principal Shannon Gomez remarked, “It just goes to show that if you put your mind to something and work hard, you can accomplish anything!”

In addition to Hunt, Lee, Luna and Kurata, the team members are: Amanda Shimizu, Devon Kent, MacKenzie von Helmolt, Luis Perez, Bryce Lomas, Lauren Jones, Kristin Lee, Matthew Petersen, Colby Smith, Dylan Biel and Shannon Martin.  

The Academic Junior High Decathlon was the brainchild of Dr. Mark Ryan in 1989.  Today the 2008 AJHD still honors his goals to: promote academic excellence; collaborative spirit and cooperative learning skills; and logical higher–order thinking while recognizing the contributions of parents, teachers, school administrators and community members in supporting high standards for all students. Above all AJHD celebrates the diversity, excellence and tradition of Catholic schools.
 

St Lawrence Martyr School is a Catholic elementary School with grades K-8, currently boasting an enrollment of some 300 students. The school has been in existence for over 50 years.