La Salle Pasadena Seniors Earn Place at World of Scholars Tournament of Champions at Yale, Need $6,000 to Get There

Three Pasadena La Salle High School seniors are planning to go to the World of Scholars 2016 Tournament of Champions at Yale University in November, after qualifying in the Global Round in Prague in mid-July.

To get to the Tournament, the three have just launched a GoFundMe campaign to encourage donations that will cover transportation, lodging and other costs for the competition.

Bettina Lee, Zach Damir and Japhet Quitzon were at the Global Round which competed with over 500 other students from 30 countries all over the world, and brought home a hoard of trophies and at least 40 medals overall.

This year’s theme for the Global Round was “An Imperfect World,” and the scholars spent months preparing for tests of knowledge in Crime and Justice, History, Science, Literature, the Arts and Social Studies.

“We were all in a class in school that competed in the regional,” Bettina Lee says of her team’s story. “We had no idea what to expect but my team did really well and we qualified for the round in Prague. That’s kind of how we got started. Because we did well, we decided, ‘ok, we might as well move on.’ So we kept going.”

Lee’s team, La Salle Team One, placed second in the Global Round and she, Damir, Quitzon, and Noah Sisson, another La Salle senior on Team Two, were named Champion Scholars. Team One also took home the First Place trophy for the Scholars’ Bowl. Team Two placed 19th, qualifying both teams for the Tournament of Champions at Yale.

High-spirited and very positive about making good in the final round, Lee and the other team members are now seeking assistance from good-meaning people, so they could travel to Yale and compete.

“We need around $6,000, and that includes lodging and transportation,” says Lee. “We decided to start a GoFundMe campaign because we thought that once people know that we did well in the competition, they would want to support us. And because all of us are going to college, it will be very hard for us to pay for the cost of the trip in addition to our tuition and things like that. We’re trying to fundraise in whatever way we can.”

The three competitors are going to college in the fall. Lee plans to take up political science or pre-law at UC San Diego.

“Our experience at Prague was life-changing, and we all hope that we can relive the experience another time,” Lee, Damir and Quitzon write on the GoFundMe page. “It would mean so much to us if you could either donate to our campaign or share it so that we can get the word out. All of the money we raise will be spent for the registration, transportation, and lodging of three people and one chaperone.”

To learn more about the La Salle scholars and their campaign, visit www.gofundme.com/2vcjkv5q.