Perry seniors John Borjas and Marleni Grijalva will be joined by junior Nathaly Ramirez at the National Student Leadership Academy gathering in Washington, D.C. November 13-18.
The trio are part of only 20 students from Iowa and Western Illinois who earned the right to travel to the nation’s capital after their efforts at the state gathering at Nationwide Insurance in Des Moines October 11.
“They just dominated,” grade 11-12 iJAG Specialist Tina Lutterman said. “Their presentations were outstanding and I could see the judges sitting there and could tell they were impressed.”
The threesome were joined by juniors Brady Eiteman and Rhylei Lyddon in competing at the state event. While Eiteman and Lyddon did not advance, Lutterman said both could be proud of their efforts.
“We had five students reach the state level this year, which was great,” Lutterman said. “In my prior eight years we had only one student get that far, so to have five all at once, and then have three go to nationals is tremendous. They worked hard and deserve this.”
Grijalva advanced in Public Speaking. With all competitors presenting on the “Three Components of iJAG Advantage” the Perry senior, Lutterman said, made a strong impression on the judges.
“One of them said to me ‘she doesn’t need to change a word’ and I agreed.”
Borjas and Ramirez presented in Project-Based Learning. They explained and discussed a project last school year in which students had to construct a boat and safely have a student paddle it across the length of the McCreary Community Building pool. Only a limited number of materials were available, testing the students in many areas.
Eiteman and Lyddon had also competed in Project-Based Learning.
Borjas, Grijalva and Ramirez will be joined by students from 38 other states and the Domincan Republic at the NSLA event. They will tour many historic sites in the capital and have the chance to meet with legislators. All expenses for the students are provided, courtesy of numerous corporate sponsors.
