El Camino Real High Off to Defend State Academic Decathlon Title

Twenty teams from Los Angeles-area schools, including defending state and national champion El Camino Real High School of Woodland Hills, will be in Sacramento today to compete in the three-day California Academic Decathlon.

El Camino actually finished second in this year’s Los Angeles Unified School District Academic Decathlon, behind Granada Hills Charter High School. Both high schools will represent the district in Sacramento, along with Marshall, Franklin, Garfield, Bell, Hamilton, North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Grant and Harbor Teacher Prep.

Nine teams who topped the Los Angeles County Office of Education competition will also be taking part in the statewide challenge -- county high- scorer South Pasadena High School, Mark Keppel, Beverly Hills, Edgewood, Redondo Beach, West, South, Burbank and Alhambra.

Orange County will send five teams: Westminster, Woodbridge, Valencia, Trabuco Hills and La Quinta high schools.

The winner of the state competition will advance to the national contest, scheduled for April 17-19 in Garden Grove.

The nine-member teams take a multiple-choice test covering various subjects, then members give a pair of speeches, take part in an interview and pen an essay. The decathlon concludes with the Super Quiz.

The academic theme of the competition this year is “New Alternatives in Energy: Ingenuity and Innovation.”

A total of 66 teams from across the state will be competing, with the winner announced Sunday.

• City News Service

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