GCA students excel in different academic competitions

Five Grace Christian Academy students from 4th to 6th grades showed excellent per-formance at the 2019 Academic Bee Challenge for elementary students last Saturday, May 11 at the Marianas High School gym.

The competition brought together 65 contenders from 13 public and private schools in the CNMI.

With only two mistakes in the third round, GCA was the competition’s third best team.

The Grace Christian Academy Academic Bee Challenge team has their picture taken at the Rev. Raymond Kinsella Library. (Contributed Photo)

The five-member GCA team was composed of fifth-graders Earl Jean Pantaleon, Aasish Dangol, and Rafael Busby; and fourth graders Maria Sofia Gomez and Justin Ma.

Almost all of them are first timers in Academic Bee Challenge except for Pantaleon who joined the Academic Bee competition last year. “It was kind of scary, fun, and challenging. It really tests what you knew or what you studied,” Pantaleon said.

The team members, along with their coach, were awarded individual medals, gift certificates, and certificates of recognition.

GCA coach Susan Pajarillaga said the GCA team began preparing for the competition covering various subject areas like Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies since March.

Organized by Marianas High School’s National Honor Society, the Academic Bee Challenge marked the 24th year the Academic Bee Challenge was held in the CNMI.

GCA students also shone in Math Court last Saturday, May 11, at Mount Carmel School, with the CNMI-wide competition concluding the elementary division.

The Grace Christian Academy K-3 Math Court winners have their picture taken at the Rev. Raymond S. Kinsella Library. (Contributed Pho-to)

Second grade student Hans Ordas won first place in the Grade 2 level. He has been a consistent first place winner since Kindergarten 5 in the CNMI-wide Math Court competi-tions.

Ordas, who started as a Kindergarten 4 student at GCA, said that math is his favorite subject. “I told my parents that I want to become a scientist or mathematician someday,” he said.

Seorae Lee, who is a new first grade student at GCA, won third place in the Grade 1 level. It was also Lee’s first time to join the Math Court competition.

The Team GCA of Ordas, Grade 2, and Llyana Jaira Manalang, Grade 3, won fourth place in the team division for grades 2-3.

It was the first time for the CNMI Math Court to have this team competition for grades 2-3. Ordas said, “The 3rd grade questions are hard because I am just 2nd grade, but I did my best and let God do the rest.”

CNMI Math Court began in 2005 in order to promote mathematics in CNMI. The elementary school competitions centered on the CNMI PSS Mathematics benchmarks.

Pajarillaga said, “I am so proud of our elementary students [who] did amazingly well during the competitions. I also want to thank the parents for their support.” (PR)