By Brian Hoey

Bedford, MA- For a second time in 4 years Lowell High School (LHS) won first place in the Tenacity Challenge and in doing so raised its scholarship total above $13,000.

Enlightenment, one of three LHS teams participating in the Challenge beat twenty-two other schools across Massachusetts and took home $1,000 individual scholarships for college, which makes the total amount of money won by LHS in the four year history of the event approximately $13,000.

This marks the second time that Lowell High School has won first place in the four years since the inception of Tenacity Challenge, which is an academic event intended for Latino and African-American students.

The event provides students a forum to apply their learning in four different categories.  Students accrue points in the categories: Math/Science, English, History, and Artistic expression. This year’s winners were Maylis Brito, Nana Adu, Nicole Candanado, Juliana Mendonca, and Andrew Lessieur,members of the team “Enlightenment.

Not only does the competition offer students a forum in which to apply their learning, they also have a lot of fun doing it.
When asked about their experiences at Tenacity Challenge, one student said, “Can you tell me what the topics are for next year? I want to go home and start studying right away!”

Students also expressed a greater desire to learn as a result of the Challenge.

“It makes me feel as if all of my hard work in school has a purpose outside of getting good grades,” said another participant.

Pictured in the photo, left to right, “The Enlightenment team:”

Rafael Quiles, Spanish teacher and team advisor, Maylis Brito, Nana Adu, Richard Haynes, keynote speaker for the event Nicole Candanedo, Juliana Mendonca, Andrew Lessieur, and Michael Jarvis, Math teacher and team advisor.