EL CAMINO HEROES CHEERED BY 1,000.Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer About 1,000 students, parents, teachers and administrators gathered at El Camino Real High School El Camino Real High School (also known locally as "ECR" and by some more recently as "ELCO") is a public secondary school located in the Woodland Hills district of the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California. on Wednesday to cheer and welcome back the eight students who brought home the school's third national 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. title this week. ``I really like the fact that we're here celebrating an academic team, not just an athletic team,'' a jubilant 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. Superintendent Roy Romer Roy R. Romer (born October 31, 1928 in Garden City, Kansas, United States) was the 39th governor of Colorado and served as the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District from 2001 to 2006. told the crowd assembled in a large courtyard. ``We couldn't be more proud of what you, the student body, are fostering on this campus.'' Last week 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. , the team went head-to-head against 361 students from 39 other U.S. high schools and a team from British Columbia British Columbia, province (2001 pop. 3,907,738), 366,255 sq mi (948,600 sq km), including 6,976 sq mi (18,068 sq km) of water surface, W Canada. Geography , Canada, to win the prestigious academic competition. El Camino's champs are: Cassidy Ellis, 18, of West Hills; Gary Fox Gary John Fox (born December 23, 1943 in Picton, Ontario) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 1999. , 17, of Woodland Hills; Jonathan Lin, 17, of West Hills; Patrick Liu, 17, of Woodland Hills; Eric Rasyidi, 17, of Woodland Hills; Adam Singer, 17, of Reseda; Chris Taylor, 18, of West Hills; and Adrian Wittenberg, 18, of West Hills. Previous El Camino teams won the national title of the grueling, 10-subject competition in 1998 and 2001. California schools have won national titles 11 out of 23 times, but El Camino has won the most of any school in the state. Team members, all of them seniors, said they're going through ``withdrawal pains,'' now the long months of study are finally over. ``I haven't left school when it's been daylight for months,'' Singer said. ``When I left school at 3 p.m. on Monday and it was light out, it was a big shock.'' ``He was so bored, he went shopping for clothes,'' Lin said dryly. Other El Camino students said the team's victory would inspire other students, particularly since Academic Decathlon teams are made up of A, B, and C students. ``It will encourage all the students, not just the A students, that anyone can be great,'' said Nicole Fernandez, 17, of Woodland Hills. ``If they can do it, we can do it.'' Principal Kenny Lee said El Camino's victory was one the entire district could share: from the elementary and middle schools that prepared the budding decathletes to the other LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) high schools who competed against El Camino and helped sharpen their edge. Melinda Owen, one of the team's three main coaches, said tryouts for next year's team will begin in May. About 80 students - twice as many as usual - are expected to vie for the nine coveted cov·et v. cov·et·ed, cov·et·ing, cov·ets v.tr. 1. To feel blameworthy desire for (that which is another's). See Synonyms at envy. 2. To wish for longingly. See Synonyms at desire. spots. One student dropped out of this year's team. But Owen said she, Mark Johnson and Rebecca Gessert, the three main coaches, may take smaller roles next year, allowing other teachers to step forward. Ultimately, she said, it comes down to the students themselves. ``We can push them all we want, but if they don't want it, if they aren't passionate about it, it isn't going to happen,'' Owen said. Marvin Cobb, executive director of the California Academic Decathlon, said he plans to contact U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to see if they can arrange for the decathletes to visit with President George W. Bush in Washington, D.C. Lisa M. Sodders, (818) 713-3663 lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) The winners of the 2004 National Academic Decathlon are celebrated Wednesday by their school, 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:
(2) Medals and trophies earned by El Camino's victorious Academic Decathlon team are displayed on tables Wednesday at the school. John McCoy/Staff Photographer |
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