ACADEMIC RIVALRY NEIGHBORING SCHOOLS TOP COMPETITORS.Byline: Harrison Sheppard Sacramento Bureau SACRAMENTO - The California finals for the Academic Decathlon decathlon (dĭkăth`lŏn), in modern Olympic games, a contest for men held over two days and composed of 10 track-and-field events. will take place in Sacramento this weekend, and once again it will be a showcase for schools from Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. and especially the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . Six Valley schools are in California's top 15 - including two neighboring schools that are currently considered the top two in the country. Another four in the top 15 are from elsewhere in Los Angeles County. Woodland Hills neighbors El Camino Real El Camino Real (Spanish for The Royal Road or The King's Highway) was the name of a series of pre-automobile highways linking the various New World colonies of Spain:
prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. an unofficial survey. In the past two decades, both schools have placed in the top three nationally four times, including two national championships each. Accordingly students at both schools have been intensely preparing for the showdown for months, spending some 40 hours a week in training. ``Acadeca has basically turned into our lives,'' said Cassidy Ellis, a senior at El Camino. ``We are at school every weekday until 10:00 (p.m.). This last Saturday we stayed until 10:00. The last few weeks have been the most intense it's ever been (in) preparing for state.'' Taft team members say that while they're focused on El Camino, they know other tough schools like Fresno County's Edison High School Edison High School is the name of many schools named after Thomas Edison: Schools with the full name:
``Both teams realize the city competition was really a tie,'' said Aaron Siani, a senior on the Taft team. ``I think whether we had won or lost, we would be just as motivated. We're not competing against El Camino; we're competing against ourselves.'' Such intense preparation for the academic decathlon has paid off in the past but also takes a toll - reducing team members' time spent with friends, at the mall, even for doing regular school homework. But students say it's well worth it for the sake of school and parental pride and personal achievement. Fans of the competition also say it helps dispel the image of California, and Los Angeles in particular, as having a poor public school system. Since 1982, California has come in first or second place every year but one, and the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. has reached that level 10 times. The state has 11 national titles, putting it only one title behind Texas. ``That misperception mis·per·ceive tr.v. mis·per·ceived, mis·per·ceiv·ing, mis·per·ceives To perceive incorrectly; misunderstand. mis is particularly applicable to LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) ,'' said Marvin Cobb, executive director of the California Academic Decathlon. ``They take a fairly bad rap in the press on a fairly regular basis,'' he said, ``yet LAUSD tends to dominate the California scene in terms of Academic Decathlon and California tends to dominate the national scene.'' ``You can draw from that that LAUSD is one of, if not the, strongest individual districts in the country as far as Academic Decathlon is concerned. They take this very seriously,'' Cobb said. The 2004 California Academic Decathlon takes place today and Saturday in Sacramento at the Radisson Hotel and Rio Americano High School Rio Americano High School, colloquially known as Rio, is an American public high school in Sacramento, California, part of the San Juan Unified School District. The current principal is Robert Hollingsworth (2000-present). . The winners are announced Sunday. Schools are represented by nine-member teams who are tested for their knowledge of several academic subjects as well as public speaking and interviewing. The national competition is scheduled for April 14-17 in Boise, Idaho “Boise” redirects here. For other uses, see Boise (disambiguation). Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the county seat of Ada County and the principal city of the Boise metropolitan area. . For more information, go online to www.academicdecathlon.org/2004. Harrison Sheppard, (916)446-6723 harrison.sheppard(at)dailynews.com TOP TEAMS The California Academic Decathlon finals are being held this weekend in Sacramento. The Los Angeles area and the San Fernando Valley have a strong presence at the competition. Here are the top 15 of the 50 high schools participating in the tournament: 1. El Camino Real, Woodland Hills 2. Taft, Woodland Hills 3. Edison, Fresno County 4. Simi Valley 5. Beverly Hills 6. Marshall, Los Angeles 7. Reseda 8. Granada Hills 9. University, Fresno County 10. Burbank 11. Venice 12. Los Angeles 13. Bishop Alemany, Mission Hills 14. Bakersfield 15. Bella Vista, Sacramento County CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1) El Camino Real High senior Gary Fox, a member of the school's Academic Decathlon team, boned up on the Lewis and Clark expedition Lewis and Clark expedition, 1803–6, U.S. expedition that explored the territory of the Louisiana Purchase and the country beyond as far as the Pacific Ocean. last week in preparation for the state finals that will be fought out this weekend in Sacramento. Evan Yee/Staff Photographer (2) Academic Decathlon team member Adrian Wittenberg, 18, of El Camino High studies economics Tuesday for the state competition. Tina Burch/Staff Photographer Box: TOP TEAMS (see text) |
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