Academic Decathlon : Taft High Goes to Head of the Class

Taft High School in Woodland Hills defeated 52 other Los Angeles high schools for the championship in the district’s annual contest of brains, the Academic Decathlon, officials announced Tuesday.

Taft’s six-member team scored 4,522 out of a possible 6,000 points in the daylong competition Nov. 14 in Van Nuys. Taft is the first San Fernando Valley school to win the 10-event contest, which was dominated by Palisades High School from 1981 to 1984 and by Marshall High School in 1985 and 1986.

University High School in West Los Angeles took second place with 4,273 points, followed by El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills (4,229), Dorsey High School in Los Angeles (4,122) and Palisades High School in Pacific Palisades (4,046).

Dorsey, which finished 37th last year, was named the most improved team.

The highest individual scorer was Carlos Lerner, an A student from Birmingham High School in Van Nuys.

The teams were evaluated in a battery of written tests in mathematics, history, literature, science, economics and fine arts. Team members also had to write an essay, give a speech, submit to an oral interview and take part in the Super Quiz, a game testing mental recall and speed that focused this year on aviation history.

Taft’s team--Daniel Fink, David Hamburger, Jason Lowy, Lillian Morris, Matthew Petach and Jeremy Singer--studied more intensively than other teams, putting in long hours over the summer attending lectures, reviewing books and taking notes. According to coach Arthur Berchin, an English teacher, the summer study sessions were an experiment--one that appears to have paid off.

In the Los Angeles County decathlon, also held Nov. 14, Palos Verdes High School defeated six-time champion Beverly Hills High School. Beverly Hills took second place, while William S. Hart High School in Newhall came in third.

Both the Palos Verdes and Taft teams will go on to compete in the statewide Academic Decathlon next March 11-14 in Sacramento.

Marshall, last year’s state and national decathlon champ, placed 13th in the Los Angeles district competition.