Riverwood Succeeds At Japan Academic Challenge And Speech Contest

SANDY SPRINGS, GA — Riverwood International Charter School students brought home some impressive trophies from the annual Japan Academic Challenge and Japanese Speech Contest in March.

Gabby Douglas, Neriah Moore and Karina Spataru-Toma for winning first place in the Level 1 challenge. In the Category 1 speech contest, Isabella Newstead won third place against ten other high school students as well as ten university students. The speech contest involved writing and memorizing a presentation and delivering it without the benefit of any notes or taking any pauses.

Riverwood sent 14 students to this year’s competition and Azuza Callaway, Riverwood’s Japanese teacher, was understandably proud of their accomplishments. Callaway led many afternoon sessions preparing and practicing for the event and accompanied the group to Georgia Tech. The Georgia Association of Teachers of Japanese, the Japan-American Society of Georgia, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Georgia, and the Georgia Tech School of Modern Languages organize the annual event.