Russia is topic as LAUSD Academic Decathlon begins

Jan. 26, 2013 10:58 AM PT

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The topic is Russia for the more than 500 students from 58 high schools gathered at Roybal Learning Center in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday for the Los Angeles Unified School District Academic Decathlon.

First up is speech, interview and essay categories.

The competition will conclude on Feb. 2 with the Super Quiz, also at Roybal Learning Center. The decathlon winner will be announced Feb. 8.

The field includes two-time defending national champion Granada Hills High.

‘I think we have the potential here for seeing the best group of decathlon teams ever in LAUSD,’ said Cliff Ker, in his 13th year as the district’s Academic Decathlon coordinator.

The students will be tested on their knowledge of ‘Doctor Zhivago’; the space race between the United States and the USSR; Russian composers, art and architecture; and the economics of communist and post-communist Russia.

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--Martha Groves

L.A. Now

Martha Groves

Martha Groves, who covered the Westside for the Los Angeles Times, left the newsroom in 2015. A native Hoosier, she became a Metro reporter after many years as a Business writer and editor. She previously worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the late, lamented Chicago Daily News.