Gonzaga (St. John's)

Gonzaga High School is a school in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. In 1974, they became the first, and so far only, Reach for the Top champion from the province.

Gonzaga participated in Reach for the Top for most of the CBC era, but their greatest success came from 1974 to 1979, where they made six consecutive nationals appearances as the Newfoundland representative.

In 1974, a team of Gerry Beresford, Peter Chafem, Tom Harrington (now a host on CBC's Marketplace) and Sethu Reddy got to enjoy a Reach national tournament held in their home town of St. John's to commemorate Newfoundland's 25th anniversary in Confederation. The Alberta representative, O'Leary, was probably a favourite thanks to Alberta's fiercely competitive environment, but Gonzaga had the local audience support in the final. Gonzaga beat the flustered O'Leary team 300-265, earning a camping trip to Alberta as a prize (the Alberta team may not have found that too exotic). A YouTube video of that final is found here.

Gonzaga would make it to nationals for the remainder of the decade. Today, the school, along with the rest of Newfoundland and Labrador, does not play SchoolReach.

Reach for the Top Champion
Preceded by	Year	Succeeded by
Lorne Jenkins	1974	Queen Elizabeth