Lutheran Elementary School Tournament hosts more than 150 CNH Students

In 1962, Concordia University Portland started to host a Lutheran Elementary School Tournament (LEST). At the beginning, it was basically a boys basketball tournament for just a few schools. Over the years it grew into a much bigger event with over 20 schools from around the Northwest and Northern California participating in a wider variety of events. When Concordia Portland closed in 2020, the schools in the northwest continued the tournament in Tacoma at various venues. In 2023, Concordia University Irvine started hosting a second LEST, known as LEST OC (Orange County). LEST Northwest continues to host a tournament that includes 18 schools with 26 events. LEST OC included 13 schools with 17 events. This tournament is for 5th through 8th graders and includes basketball, swimming, bowling, dance, dance, cheer, math competition, science exposition, chess, spelling, knowledge bowl, art, vocal and instrumental music events, piano, handbells, drama, readers theater, bookworms, oration, writing, cubing, robotics, and Lego building.

This year on February 11-14, St. John’s in Napa and Prince of Peace in Fremont attended LEST Northwest with around 80 students participating from Prince of Peace and 50 students from St. John’s Napa. St. John’s Bakersfield and St. Peter Lodi were at LEST OC with a little over 20 students participating from St. John’s Bakersfield and 42 students from St. Peter Lodi. This event is a memorable event for the students and their families, but it also gives students a way to share the wide variety of gifts that God has given them. For schools, it is a wonderful way to enhance and extend student learning and character development.