SCRIMMAGE SEASON FOR DECATHLETES.Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer Hundreds of high school students from across Southern California squared off Saturday 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. scrimmage tests, the first step on a path that could lead to a national championship. Students from 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. , Ventura County, Los Angeles County and area private schools took the seven multiple-choice tests in everything from art to economics in preparation for regional competitions in January and February. ``It gives me more of a sense of what it's going to be like in February,'' said Taft High School student Monica Schettler, 17, of Tarzana, a first-time decathlete de·cath·lete n. An athlete who participates in a decathlon. who 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. . Although the scrimmages do not officially count in the competition, many coaches use the results to select the final nine members of their competition team. Cliff Ker, LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) Academic Decathlon coordinator, said he expects to have 60 teams in regional competition, including Northridge Academy High School Northridge Academy High School is a public, co-educational, secondary school consisting of students in Grades 9-12. It is located in the Northridge neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles, California. , which opened last year on the campus of California State University, Northridge CSUN offers a variety of programs leading to bachelor's degrees in 61 fields and master's degrees in 42 fields. The university has over 150,000 alumni. It's also home to a summer musical theater/theater program known as TADW (TeenAge Drama Workshop) that leads teenagers through an , and doesn't yet have a senior class. Connie Semf, Northridge Academy's principal, said the school is still developing extracurricular activities for its students, but made an Academic Decathlon team a priority. ``I've worked with Academic Decathlon for the last 15 years, and it builds character and teaches the kids so many qualities of teamwork and confidence and how to work under pressure to succeed,'' Semf said. The rigorous 10-subject decathlon continues to gain in popularity in Southern California, in part because the region has dominated the national competition. California has won 12 of 24 national competitions, more than any other state. Eight of those victories have gone to LAUSD schools, including last year's national champion, four-time winner 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. of Woodland Hills. Winners of various regional competitions and several wild card teams will compete at the California Academic Decathlon March 17-19 in Los Angeles. The winner of the state competition will compete at the U.S. Academic Decathlon April 26-29 in San Antonio. Lisa M. Sodders, (818) 713-3663 lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Northridge Academy 10th-grader Casey Brown goes over her answers at the Academic Decathlon scrimmage test on Saturday morning. Joel P. Lugavere/Special to the Daily News |
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