This is the highest place ever attained by a high school in the Coachella Valley.
The Palm Desert High School World Affairs team placed second in the nation in the Carlos and Malu Alvarez Academic WorldQuest National Competition at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, April 28. This is the highest place ever attained by a high school in the Coachella Valley.
The Palm Desert High School team members are Matthew Chang, Patricia Dan, Danielle Hjerpe and Joshua Phillips. The team was coached by Palm Desert High teachers Patricia Lizza and Lisa Schhwarzlose. The team qualified for the national competition by winning the Charles and Priscilla Porter Academic WorldQuest competition in the Coachella Valley in December 6, 2017 in which thirteen (13) high schools competed for the right to represent the Coachella Valley in the national competition.
The World Affairs Council of the Desert(WACD) sponsors the annual WorldQuest competition as one of the programs sponsored by the WACD. WACD is a nonprofit organization founded in 1975. It has a long history of presenting intelligent, nonpartisan dialogues about national and international topics. The WACD sponsors six dinner speaker programs each year in addition to the Academoic WorldQuest competition. Over 200 members attend each dinner along with students from area high schools and colleges. John Welty, President of WACD said, “This is an incredible achievement by these students. The students have worked with their coaches since December to prepare for this competition and they demonstrated that they are among the very best in the nation. We are delighted to have this opportunity to support Academic WorldQuest each year.”
The team will return from Washington, D.C. Monday evening, April 30, 2018
