Brain Fever: Students at Torrey Pines High Are Training Hard for Academic Decathlon

For a small group of seniors at Torrey Pines High School, cramming has become a way of life. For months now, they’ve done nothing else.

Next weekend, the nine students will represent San Diego County at the statewide Academic Decathlon, an Olympics of the mind where the events include history and economics, essay writing and speech-making.

They have no time for dates, dinners at home or regular schoolwork. Their evenings and weekends are filled with lectures and quizzes on subjects ranging from aeronautics to the Enlightenment philosophers, communicable diseases to classical music.

“It’s been hellish,” said Graham Charles, 17.

A Vague Study Guide

The teams who participate in the decathlon are given a study guide that lists the topics on which they can expect to be questioned. But the outline is vague, and there are always some surprises.

Blaze Newman, an English teacher who serves as the team’s coach, said last year’s history section, which was supposed to deal with the Renaissance, also included a question about the Bantu migrations.

“So we have to know everything in the world,” said Heather Chung, 18.

Aware that their preparation time is running out, the team members have been seeking new forms of mental exercise. In a moment of desperation, they considered reading the dictionary.

10 Events

The decathlon, which will be held in Sacramento, consists of 10 events. The students take multiple-choice tests in art, language and literature, math, science, history and economics; submit written essays; make prepared and impromptu speeches; undergo an oral interview; and compete in an event called the Super Quiz. The quiz, a high-speed game show-type event, consists of 48 questions on a particular theme. This year’s subject is the history of aviation.

The rules of the decathlon require each team to include three A, three B and three C students. Newman said she compares PSAT scores, grade point averages and teacher recommendations to find the

brightest students in each category. Those who are interested in trying out for the team join a study group and then take a qualifying test. The high scorers in each grade category are chosen for the team.

This is the second year in a row that Torrey Pines beat out 42 other schools to win the county competition. Last year it came in sixth in the state competition. This year, the kids say they’re going for the gold.

Oreos and Hot Chocolate

One evening last week, the team gathered in a classroom decorated with posters of William Shakespeare, Albert Einstein and Virginia Woolf to cram for the Super Quiz. Before getting down to business, the students pulled out bags of Oreos, containers of nuts and packets of hot chocolate mix from a storage cabinet and passed them around.

“We eat a lot,” Charles said.

Jerry Swovelin, a pilot and sky diving instructor who’s married to one of the students’ teachers, arrived to run the team through a set of possible Super Quiz questions: What was the first year more passengers were carried across the Atlantic by air than by ship? Why was Charles Lindbergh’s plane called the “Spirit of St. Louis”? What movie with an aviation theme won the Oscar for “Best Picture” at the first Academy Awards?

“That’s cheap!” shouted Neil Hsu.

“When you’re studying the history of aviation, you don’t look at the Academy Awards,” agreed Sascha Dublin, who got the second-highest score in the last year’s statewide competition.

But theirs is not to reason why. The name of the film--”Wings”--and the release date--1927--were scrawled into the bulging, black loose-leaf notebooks that serve as their repositories of knowledge.

Even during rest breaks, their minds didn’t stray too far from the big event. They paced the aisles of the classroom and the hallway outside discussing practice test scores and muttering definitions.

“We just walk around and spurt out facts,” Chung said with a laugh.

Despite the hard work, the students say they’ve enjoyed being on the team, that it’s exciting, challenging, even fun.

“I think I’ve learned more in this decathlon than I have in all four years of high school,” said Jeff Wright. Sporting shoulder-length hair, a torn T-shirt and a leather jacket adorned with chains, Jeff is not your stereotypical nerd. “The hardest part for me was attendance,” he added.

“Well, that’s the hardest part of school for you,” said instructor Newman.

The others complained about not having time to spend with friends and family.

“What family?” asked Chung, who had disappointed hers earlier that day by walking out in the middle of a piano recital so she could get to the study session on time. “I’ve lost my family. My baby brother, he’s 5. I never see him. When I come home, I say, ‘My, how you’ve grown.’ ”

Dublin, who is considered the star of the team, said her father is disgusted with her.

“He wants me to stay home and clean the house like a good daughter,” she said.

“But you’re a champion,” said Hsu.

“He doesn’t care,” she said. “He wants me to cook dinner for him.”

They say their friends don’t understand why anyone who has to go to school all day would want to return in the evening for a second dose of punishment.

“Some of my friends get really annoyed,” said Hsu. “They’ll ask me to go out and do something and I’m always saying, ‘No, I have to go to decathlon.’ ”

“My girlfriend says she hopes we lose,” said Wright.

If it wins, the team will represent California at the national competition in San Antonio, Tex., the first week in May. In other words, the students would have to face six more weeks of nonstop studying and no social life.

“Nobody understands what you do,” said Dublin. “They say, ‘You sit in a room and take six tests? That’s not a competition, that’s school.’ ”

What their friends might not understand is that scoring high on the decathlon can be as exciting as winning a football game. And, as Charles pointed out, there’s no risk of bruises or broken bones.

The members of the team have also become good friends. They joke and tease each other, which they said helps keep their anxiety from getting out of hand.

“I feel so much closer to this team than any other group or club I’ve ever been in,” said Dublin.

Team Pride

At about 9 p.m., as the team tried to muster the energy to carry it through an hour of identifying sketches of different types of planes--from the Wright Brothers to the Concorde--three of the school’s soccer players charged into the room.

“We won!” they shouted. “We’re in the finals!”

The members of the decathlon team applauded and whooped. But as soon as the athletes turned to leave, Charles shouted, “The academic decathlon’s better!”

Chung, apparently appalled by this display of rudeness, wadded up a piece of note paper and threw it at him.

But another of his teammates rushed to Charles’ defense.

“Come on, Heather,” Joe Gill said. “You know it’s true.”