Santa Ana : Academic Decathlon at Rancho Santiago College
About 425 students from 42 high schools in California will compete today in the state Academic Decathlon, being held this year at Rancho Santiago College’s Santa Ana campus.
The 42 high schools are from 40 of the state’s 58 counties. Los Angeles County, because of its population, has three teams represented: one from the city unified school district, one from the county and one from private schools in the county.
Foothill High School, from Tustin Unified School District, is representing Orange County. Foothill won the Orange County championship for the second year in a row in the county’s own decathlon Nov. 16.
The Academic Decathlons were conceived 17 years ago by Orange County Education Supt. Robert Peterson. The events feature 10 “brainpower” contests pitting high school teams composed equally of A, B and C students.
The highlight of each decathlon is the “super quiz.” This year’s state “super quiz” will start at 3:10 p.m. today and will be held in the Cook Gymnasium at Rancho Santiago College. The event is open to the public and the various high schools will have cheering sections in the bleachers as their teams tackle the questions in the rotation quiz. The topic of this year’s “super quiz” is immigration.
Except for the “super quiz” winner, all other victors, including the state champion, will not be announced until the awards banquet at noon Saturday at the Anaheim Marriott Hotel. The sponsor of the annual state contests is the California Academic Decathlon Assn., a nonprofit group of state civic and business leaders.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
