Teams from 23 Los Angeles-area public schools will be in Sacramento Friday to compete in the three-day California Academic Decathlon, with the winner advancing to the national competition.
Granada Hills Charter High School, the reigning national champion, won the Los Angeles Unified School District Academic Decathlon for the fifth time in six years, scoring 55,175.7 points out of a possible 60,000, to earn a spot in the state competition. Marshall High finished second with 55,029.8 and Franklin was third with 54,713.7.
Ten other LAUSD teams also qualified for the California Academic Decathlon: El Camino Real Charter; Garfield; Bell; Van Nuys; Grant; Narbonne; Hamilton; North Hollywood; Cleveland Charter; and Lincoln.
South Pasadena High School won the Los Angeles County Office of Education Academic Decathlon, propelling its team to the statewide competition. It’s the second year in a row South Pasadena won the county competition. The team tallied 55,373.9 points out of a possible 60,000 during the competition, besting its score of 52,572.5 from last year, according to the county.
In addition to South Pasadena, nine other schools in the county competition earned scores high enough to earn wild-card berths in the California Academic Decathlon:
— Edgewood, West Covina Unified, 54,210.5;
— West, Torrance Unified, 51.979.7;
— Mark Keppel, Alhambra Unified, 51,282.5;
— Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills Unified, 50,603.8;
— Burbank, Burbank Unified, 49,207.2;
— Redondo Union, Redondo Beach Unified, 47,156.4;
— Alhambra, Alhambra Unified, 46,389.7;
— Arcadia, Arcadia Unified, 45,532.0; and
— West Ranch, Hart Union, 43,476.8.
The study topic for this year’s competition is India. The winner will be announced Sunday.
The national competition will be held April 28-30 in Anchorage, Alaska.
Granada Hills Charter High School has won the national competition four of the past five years, interrupted only in 2014, when another LAUSD school, El Camino Real, won the title.
—City News Service