RUHS Gets 11th in Academic Decathlon

Granada Hills Charter High School successfully defended its overall team champion crown at the 33rd Annual California Academic Decathlon in Sacramento over the weekend; however,  made a strong showing, placing 11th out of 65 schools competing.

El Camino Real Charter High School placed second, followed by Marshall High School. During last year's competition, Marshall earned a second place finish, followed by El Camino Real, said Ken Scarberry, executive director of the California Academic Decathlon.

Arcadia High School's Lynn Huang was the highest scoring student in this year's competition, followed by Enoch Chang of Bakersfield High and David Favela of Bell High School in Los Angeles County.

Redondo Union's team ranked 17th in the super quiz competition.

Senior Christopher Lew, who was the highest-scoring individual on the Redondo team, took third place in the Honors Division Essay competition and tied for third place in the Honors Division Economics competition.

Senior Aamil Shaik tied for third place in the Scholastic Division Science competition.

An estimated 500 high schools and approximately 13,000 students from 42 counties and school districts in California traveled to the Hyatt Regency in Sacramento to participate in the competition that began Thursday and concluded today.

Academic decathletes take 30-minute multiple choice tests in the subjects of Economics, Art, Music, Language and Literature, Mathematics, Science and Social Science. Each team member also gives a planned 4-minute speech and a 2-minute impromptu speech. They also sit through a 7-minute interview and have 50 minutes to write an essay. Each of the nine-member teams includes three A students, three B students and three C or below students.

Granada Hills now goes to the national decathlon. Since the national competition began in 1982, California has won 17 national titles and 11 second place finishes.

Editor Nicole Mooradian contributed to this report.