Granada Hills Students Win 9th Academic Decathlon Championship

GRANADA HILLS, CA — The Granada Hills Charter School won its record ninth U.S. Academic Decathlon Friday, the school announced.

The team scored 52,383.2 points in the academic competition, which features 10 events revolving around seven subject areas: science, literature, art, music, social science, economics, and mathematics. Teams complete multiple choice exams, essays, and speeches in each subject, and compete in a fast-paced Super Quiz relay.

The theme of the 2022 quiz, which was held virtually in March, was “Water: A Most Essential Resource.” GHC also won the 2021 decathlon, in addition to seven other championships.

GHHS’s team included Zainab Al-Atya, Lily Fairbank-Bermejo, Vivian Le, Anthony Mercado (alternate), Vanessa Miller, Elyssa Nguyen (alternate), Kira Pospeshil, Matthew Salcedo, Colby Sapera, Garrett Scott, and Mason Wong.

The highest-scoring students in their division were Zainab Al-Atya, Colby Sapera, and Lily Fairbank-Bermejo.

The team was led by Head Coach Tyler Lee and Assistant Coach Amy Contreras.

“Our whole team is thrilled to carry on Granada’s winning tradition,” said Head Coach Tyler Lee. “They deserve it after working hard all year and demonstrating real determination and dedication. Today’s win is a great accomplishment, but I always tell our team that what’s really important is they all learned a lot – about the subject, about how to handle adversity, about how to work as a team, and about themselves.”

“I’m very excited, very proud of all my teammates. We worked really hard all year,” said Lily Fairbank-Bermejo. “It’s great to see the success that comes from all the hard work that we put in come to fruition. That we were learning about water, which is such a critical resource for us in California, made it that much more relevant to us all. I know we’ll all remember our time on the team for the rest of our lives and take the lessons we’ve learned with us.”