Local News in Brief : Sierra Canyon Takes Top Scholastic Honors

For the third consecutive year, tiny Sierra Canyon School, a private, nondenominational school in Chatsworth, has taken top honors in the Southwest regional competition for the California Junior Scholarship Federation, the state’s junior high honor society.

Jennie Perry and David Plotkin, both ninth-graders, were named outstanding scholars in the region that includes about 200 public and private schools in parts of Los Angeles, Palmdale and the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys. Students are rated on scholastic achievements, outside activities and poise during interviews. Perry, who has a 4.0 grade point, the highest possible, has been accepted to study in the summer session of the Boston School of Ballet. She is a softball player and president of the ninth-grade class. Plotkin is also a 4.0 student who has won national awards for his work in science and social studies. He is the concertmaster for the California Youth Arts Orchestra.

Last year, Sierra Canyon students Lisa Fragner and Jason Kleinberg won the top awards in the junior high division competition. In 1983, Shayne Lewin was the female winner of the competition.

“We’re not a gifted school, but we do stress academics and there are tests that students must pass in order to enter the school,” said Howard Wang, Sierra Canyon’s director. “But it is still kind of interesting that a small school like this would have five out of the six winners for the last three years.”