Chesterton High School Japanese language students won the state championship in the second-year division, was the third place finisher in the third-year division and finished fourth in fourth-year at the Japanese Olympiad of Indiana at DePauw University in Greencastle on Saturday, Feb. 25.

This was the thirteenth Japan Bowl/Japanese Olympiad state championship for CHS.

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 second-level team of Chris Maatouk, Garrett Lee and Monika Segovia defeated Valparaiso and Bloomington North in the final round of the twentyone-team division. The other second-year team of Lilly Hull, Evelyn Miller and Natalie Wozniak turned in a strong performance as well.

The third-year team of Addison Dempsay, Molly Cannon and Jimmy Rogers was third in the third-year division. The team narrowly lost to Michigan City and Valparaiso in the final round.

Jessica Lohse, Brooke Kravitz and Grayson Wingate just missed making it to the finals, losing out in a tie breaker and finishing fourth. This team has finished in the top four each of their three years in the competition.

Forty-nine teams from thirteen 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 tea ceremony, traditional games, and other activities.