Moorpark High School in Ventura County was declared California's Academic Decathlon winner at Monday's award ceremony, with its team earning 50,752.9 points and defeating 59 other teams of decathletes from across California. In April, they will represent California at the 2009 U.S. Academic Decathlon competition in Memphis, Tenn.
During two days, decathletes endured a series of 30-minute, multiple-choice tests in the subjects of economics, art, music, language and literature, mathematics, science and social science. In addition, each team member was required to give a planned four-minute speech and a two-minute impromptu speech, sit through a seven-minute interview and write an essay in 50 minutes. This year's study topic was "Latin America."
LAUSD's El Camino Real High School placed second and it also won the overall Super Quiz competition.
Of the nine LAUSD's teams that participated in this year's race, six finished among the top 20 highest scoring schools.
"I'm so proud of all our decathletes that competed in the state competition," said Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines. "They made an impressive showing and finished among the top tier schools."
