CITY'S BRAIN TRUST EL CAMINO GOES FOR 8TH STRAIGHT TITLE.Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer 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:
The school has won the city title for the past seven years, placed first in the state four times, placed second in national competition in 1996 and 1997, and won the national championship in 1998 and 2001. But a track record like that makes each successive year harder, because it inspires other schools to try to beat El Camino, said coaches Melinda Owen and Christian Cerone. For the past four years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time team has had all-new players, too. What helps is that the team has so much support from other teachers and parents, Owen said. Different parents have been taking turns bringing ``world cuisine dinners'' to the teens, who now study until 10 p.m. at the school, Cerone said. ``They're winning it for everybody, and not just for us or themselves,'' Cerone said. This year, the school is fielding a nine-member team in the competition that quizzes students on 10 academic subjects that include art, music, math and social science. Starting on Saturday, El Camino will be among more than 50 teams vying for the city title in the 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. Unified School District's Academic Decathlon. The teams will conclude the competition Feb. 1 when they will take the remaining seven subject tests and the oral Super Quiz - a fast-paced question-and-answer relay. It's a lot of hard work, but with rewards that are already apparent, the decathletes said. ``I've always felt challenging myself in life will get me further,'' said Victoria Kim, 17, of West Hills, who will attend Stanford University Stanford University, at Stanford, Calif.; coeducational; chartered 1885, opened 1891 as Leland Stanford Junior Univ. (still the legal name). The original campus was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. David Starr Jordan was its first president. next fall, possibly majoring in premed pre·med adj. Premedical. premed Premedical adjective Referring to preparing for a career in medicine noun . ``Before, I was a procrastinator pro·cras·ti·nate v. pro·cras·ti·nat·ed, pro·cras·ti·nat·ing, pro·cras·ti·nates v.intr. To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness. v.tr. and now I have learned that that just doesn't work here,'' said Puja puja In Hinduism, a form of ceremonial worship. It may range from brief daily rites in the home to an elaborate temple ritual. A typical puja offers the image of a deity the honours accorded to a royal guest. Shah, 17, of Chatsworth. ``You have to have a schedule and do it on time in order to be successful.'' Kelley O'Mara has also improved her study skills since joining the team. Before the squad, ``I didn't take notes, I didn't study; my entire career in school has been based on what I've heard and what I've absorbed,'' said the 17-year-old Winnetka teen. ``It's taught me to be more organized. ``I'm so glad (subjective tests) are in the decathlon,'' O'Mara said of the essay, interview and speech portions of the competition. ``The way you express yourself and formulate your opinions and your thoughts is a major part of who you are.'' And despite the long hours, team members said they've been pleasantly surprised at how close they've grown over the past months. ``You don't think you could learn anything new about them, but you do,'' said Megan Lubaszka, 17, of West Hills. As the only two males on the nine-member team, Brandon Fisch, 18, and Josh Park, 17, both of West Hills, said they grew closer than they typically would have. This year's Super Quiz topic, oceanography oceanography, study of the seas and oceans. The major divisions of oceanography include the geological study of the ocean floor (see plate tectonics) and features; physical oceanography, which is concerned with the physical attributes of the ocean water, such as , has been challenging for Fisch - ``It's a bunch of numbers and people and it's hard to memorize,'' - while Park finds the literature section difficult, feeling more at home in math and science. EL CAMINO REAL ACADEMIC DECATHLON TEAM This is one in a series of profiles on prominent Academic Decathlon teams in 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. and surrounding communities. Teams are usually made up of nine high school students, three from each academic category based on grade-point averages - honor students (3.75-4.0 GPA GPA abbr. grade point average Noun 1. GPA - a measure of a student's academic achievement at a college or university; calculated by dividing the total number of grade points received by the total number attempted ), scholastic students (3.0-3.74 GPA) and varsity students (0.0-2.99 GPA). Members compete as individuals and as a team in 10 academic subjects - math, science, social science, economics, language and literature, fine arts, essay, interview, speech and Super Quiz. Brandon Fisch, 18, West Hills, Varsity Victoria Kim, 17, West Hills, Honors Donna Lee Donna Lee is a bebop jazz standard itself based on the chord changes of the traditional jazz standard "(Back Home Again in) Indiana".[1] It is named after the now-obscure bassist Donna Lee. , 17, West Hills, Scholastic Megan Lubaszka, 17, West Hills, Scholastic Kelley O'Mara, 17, Winnetka, Varsity Josh Park, 17, West Hills, Honors Puja Shah, 17, Chatsworth, Honors Niki Van Houten, 17, Woodland Hills, Varsity Salpi Vartivarian, 17, Chatsworth, Scholastic CAPTION(S): 9 photos, box Photo: (1) Brandon Fisch (2) Victoria Kim (3) Donna Lee (4) Megan Lubaszka (5) Kelley O'Mara (6) Josh Park (7) Puja Shah (8) Niki Van Houten (9) Salpi Vartivarian Box: EL CAMINO REAL ACADEMIC DECATHLON TEAM (see text) 
Hi readers. I, Salpi Vartivarian, feel the need to clarify something on this website, in anticipation of anyone (professional or otherwise) searching me on Google. I was never a B student in high school. I was consistently an A student. I deliberately dropped my GPA (through entirely legal means) to get on the Decathlon team, because they were all full for Honors. What's more, I outscored all the Honors on my team at the actual competition. Thank you for your time.
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