For the third year in a row, a team of students from Palm Desert High School emerged as winners from a field of 12 Coachella Valley high schools during the 14th annual Charles and Priscilla Porter Academic WorldQuest competition at Cal State San Bernardino’s Palm Desert Campus on Feb. 7. The Palm Desert High School team members included Britney Baez, Marian Felipe, Danielle Hjerpe and Kyna Huang. Xavier College Preparatory High School captured second place and West Shores High School took third place, after breaking a tie with Rancho Mirage High School. Scholarships were awarded to each student in the top three teams: first place, $300; second place, $200; and third place, $100. The most improved award went to Coachella Valley High School whose team members won $75 each. The school spirit award went to West Shores High School with the largest number of supporters in the audience. The Palm Desert High School team scored 43 out of 50, beating out Xavier College Preparatory High School by 4 points. The Palm Desert will move on to compete against other high school teams throughout the country in the National Academic WorldQuest Competition on April 27 in Washington, D.C.   Sponsored by World Affairs Council of the Desert, the Charles and Priscilla Porter Academic WorldQuest is a team game that challenges the competitors’ knowledge of world affairs. The topics this year included How to Deal with North Korea, Global Refugee and Migration Crisis, Great Decisions, Space Policy and the World Trade Organization. Sarah Trott, anchor at KESQ News Channel 3, served as master of ceremony. This year’s competing high schools also included Desert Mirage High School, Desert Hot Springs High School, Indio High School, La Quinta High School, Palm Valley School, Palm Springs High School and Shadow Hills High School. Certificates of recognition were presented to all teams by World Affairs Council of the Desert, the office of U.S. Rep. Raul Ruiz and the office of Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez. The competition began with a welcome from John Welty, president of World Affairs Council of the Desert. Yul Roe chaired the event, with assistance from Charles and Priscilla Porter, Karen Speros, Gordon Kramer, Lisa Corbin, Doris Wilson, Regina Garrison and 28 volunteers. Event sponsors included Palm Springs Life and Charles and Priscilla Porter as platinum sponsors; Anderson Children’s Foundation, CSUSB Palm Desert Campus and Thunderbird Country Club as gold ambassador sponsors; and College of the Desert, County of Riverside, Richard Jennings and UBS Financial Services, Inc. as silver ambassador sponsors. The CSUSB Palm Desert Campus offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees, a doctorate in educational leadership, and teacher credentials and certificates. With more than 1,400 students, it is the Coachella Valley’s four-year public university and plays a vital role in educating and training the region’s growing population. For more information about the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus, contact Mike Singer in the Office of Public Affairs at msinger@csusb.edu or (760) 341-2883, ext. 78107, or visit the campus website at pdc.csusb.edu.