LAUSD STUDENTS TEST SKILLS MORE THAN 660 PARTICIPATE IN DECATHLON SCRIMMAGE.Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer CANOGA PARK - More than 660 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. students took part in an 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. scrimmage Saturday, marking the start of the season. With three national-championship high schools in the LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) - Marshall, Taft and 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:
``Just because we're low on the economic scale doesn't mean our minds are less intelligent,'' said Evelyn Martinez, 16, of San Fernando High School San Fernando High School, located in San Fernando, California, is a secondary school that is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The school colors are black and gold. All girl teams are referred to as Lady Tigers, all boy teams simply as Tigers. , which placed 23rd in regional competition last year. She and her schoolmates hope to score higher this year and move up to statewide competition. Martinez took the tests at Canoga Park High School Canoga Park High School is a public school located in Canoga Park in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, USA, within the Los Angeles Unified School District. It is located right across the street from the Topanga Plaza shopping center. , one of six LAUSD scrimmage sites Saturday. Ventura County, Los Angeles County and the area private schools also had their scrimmages Saturday. Scrimmage scores don't count, but many coaches use them to determine which students will make the final nine-member teams. The Academic Decathlon is made up of 10 events. Seven are multiple- choice tests in art, economics, language and literature, mathematics, music, social science and the Super Quiz, which this year is on astronomy. Three events are interview, essay and speech contests. Christine Kim, 17, who is on the Granada Hills High School Granada Hills Charter High School (Granada Hills High School) is a public, charter, co-educational, secondary school consisting of students in grades 9-12. The school colors are green, black, and white. team, said she's already seen improvement in her study skills by being on the team. ``My study habits have shot up.'' This year's theme is ``Exploring the Ancient World.'' Decathletes will study ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman art; international trade and global economic development; literature ranging from Ancient Greek dramas like ``Oedipus the King'' to a poem by modern feminist Canadian author Margaret Atwood. They will be tested on differential calculus and grilled on Bach, Mozart and Beethoven Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had a powerful influence on the work of Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven knew much of Mozart's work, and modeled a number of his own compositions on works of Mozart. In addition, the two may have met briefly in Vienna in 1787. . Super Quiz questions will cover everything from black holes to how galaxies are formed. ``For El Camino, the harder the curriculum, the better it serves us because we put in the long hours,'' said coach Christian Cerone. ``The harder curriculums tend to separate out the fully committed from the rest of the pack.'' However, this year, LAUSD coaches found at least 100 errors in the astronomy section. The U.S. Academic Decathlon has issued a series of corrections on its Web site, and Marvin Cobb, executive director of the California Academic Decathlon, has made sure all the California coaches have the corrected information. Coaches found even more errors on the scrimmage tests Saturday. Nicholas Weber, coach of the Granada Hills team, said he is teaching his team to learn both the correct and incorrect answers. ``Sometimes, knowing the wrong ones reinforces knowing the right one.'' LAUSD teams will compete in the district regional competition Jan. 29 and Feb. 5. The winners of the regional competitions, plus a number of ``wild card'' teams, will compete at the state Academic Decathlon on March 11 and 12 at the Los Angeles International Airport “LAX” redirects here. For other uses, see LAX (disambiguation). “KLAX” redirects here. For other uses, see KLAX (disambiguation). Los Angeles International Airport (IATA: LAX, ICAO: KLAX, FAA LID: LAX Marriott Hotel, University High School and the University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. . The winning state team will compete at the U.S. Academic Decathlon April 13-16 in Chicago. California and Texas have dominated the competition for the past 23 years, winning 11 national championships each. Seven of California's victories were by LAUSD schools, including three by El Camino, last year's national champion. Lisa M. Sodders, (818) 713-3663 lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1) Francis San Luis of Cleveland High School pauses to think about a question during the Academic Decathlon Scrimmage on Saturday in Canoga Park. (2) Michelle Poon poon n. Any of several trees of the genus Calophyllum, of southern Asia, having light hard wood used for masts and spars. [Sinhalese p , left, and Marena Lin of Granada Hills participate in the Academic Decathlon Scrimmage in Canoga Park. (3) Micah Roth of El Camino Real High ponders a question during the Scrimmage. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News |
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