Sierra High may have been an underdog at the recent World Scholar’s Cup in San Francisco.

But the trio of Miles Lima, Douglas Tipton, and Colin Nguyen more than held their own against the competition in the regional round of the academic competition, in turn, qualifying for the global round.

“Sierra was, first and foremost, one of the only public high schools represented, the other schools being high-tuition private schools from the Bay Area,” said Lima, who finished fourth overall individually in the competition.

The SHS freshman is completely blind as a result of eye cancer at a young age. He’s also a talented musician, performing at the event held at Mark Day School on April 28-29.

The local team brought home gold medals in both Debate and the Multiple Choice Test, and a silver medal in the Quiz Bowl.

“This is a big deal – we moved on to the global (second) round of the competition,” said Lima on Friday.

Sierra, in the global round, had a choice of seven cities around the world, opting for Stockholm to not only represent the school but also the community.

The cost to Sweden will rely on fundraisers – the Timberwolves team is aiming at $10,000 as the goal to make that possible.

The World Scholar’s Cup was founded in 2007 as a small regional tournament at the Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies. Rather than traditional academic competitions and conferences, the World Scholar’s Cup celebrates the joy of learning as well as an enrichment opportunity to motivate students to not just demonstrate their existing strengths but to discover new ones.

Today, the World Scholar’s Cup has grown to include tens of thousands to students representing dozens of countries.