President Hails Taft Academic Decathlon Team

Nine students from Taft High School in Woodland Hills concluded a dizzying series of honors and tributes at the White House on Thursday, where President Clinton hailed them as “a source of pride for young people across America” for their second-place finish in the National Academic Decathlon.

Clinton welcomed the students from Taft as well as their counterparts from Texas and Arizona, the top three finishers in the intensely competitive decathlon in April. The students from Texas emerged victorious in the contest.

The Taft team members, who met the President in the sun-soaked Rose Garden, won 19 individual medals in subjects ranging from speech to science to economics during the prestigious tournament in Phoenix.

The students have been celebrated as a ray of academic brilliance amid unrelenting bad news about the Los Angeles school system and Los Angeles in general. The cheers reached the nation’s capital this week in what has become an annual ritual for the decathlon winners.

“The importance of your pursuit of educational excellence cannot be overemphasized,” Clinton said as the three groups of students stood tall on risers behind him.

“We are at a moment in our history when we must increase support to our education system so that Americans can reach internationally competitive standards--not through government mandates, but through leadership and cooperation among schools, communities, business and industries. The Academic Decathlon aids us in that pursuit.”

Clinton singled out Mara Weiss, the only girl on the Taft team, one of only four among the 27 students from the three top teams and the only female to win a $3,000 scholarship by finishing second among A students in the competition.

The President said the 18-year-old student had written to First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton “expressing her frustration that intellectual pursuits in high school are still seen as the domain of the male student.” Turning directly to Weiss, he said: “Good for you.”

Clinton noted that earlier this month in the same spot, he had announced Ruth Bader Ginsburg as his nominee to the Supreme Court. Ginsburg is a pioneer in women’s rights who, if confirmed as expected, would be the second woman to serve on the nation’s highest tribunal. He said these kinds of things should “do a great deal to shatter the myth.”

Weiss, who is planning to attend UC Santa Barbara, said she felt “complete shock” when the President mentioned her. “It was more than I expected,” she said.

Michael C. Wilson, an English and humanities teacher and the Taft coach, said the visit to the Rose Garden sends an important message. He compared it to the President’s hosting famed athletes, such as the NBA champion Chicago Bulls and star Michael Jordan.

“The message is that this is something that the society--right up to the President--deems worthy,” said Wilson, who served his fourth year as coach.

“We need to shift what we value. People can’t become Michael Jordan. You can become Mara. Just open a book and read it.”

The 12-year-old decathlon tests students in 10 events, including a Super Quiz, a game show-like competition during which contestants answer questions in front of an audience. Each decathlon team is divided into three groups of students with grade-point averages of A, B and C.

The Taft team advanced through a grueling series of local, state and national contests--winning a total of 75 individual medals, 15 team awards and about $17,000 in scholarships. It narrowly finished second among the 3,000 schools that began the competition. Participants said they spent as many as seven hours daily preparing.

Ironically, eight of the Taft decathletes missed their final exam in government even as they were touring the U. S. Capitol with a congressman and shaking the hand of the President. “He’s going to be pretty lenient on us,” team captain Chris Hoag said of their teacher.

The Taft students had been told that they might have an opportunity to talk with Clinton; several brought their high school yearbooks for him to sign. But those hopes were dashed when the notoriously tardy President emerged from the West Wing of the White House nearly 40 minutes behind schedule and 20 minutes late for a reception in the State Dining Room.

Nonetheless, the students said they understood. Earlier, they had visited the Capitol as the guests of Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills), where they witnessed the Senate debating parts of Clinton’s budget plan.

As the students traveled from Los Angeles, Hoag said, they recalled the famous photo of young Bill Clinton shaking John F. Kennedy’s hand at the White House about 30 years ago.

“Twenty years from now, it’s going to be one of us shaking Clinton’s hand,” said Hoag, who was on his first trip to Washington.

The team pulled together despite conflicting political views. Adam Caress, gold medal winner among C students, is a Republican who is interested in a political career.

“Adam’s running for President and I’m going to have to run for President to save the world from him,” quipped Hoag, who said he would have voted for Clinton had he been old enough to do so.