El Camino 1st in Class, Perseverance

A Texas team may have beaten the young scholars of El Camino Real High School at the national Academic Decathlon, but the students returned home from St. George, Utah, last week winners nonetheless. For the second year in a row, the team from Woodland Hills placed second in the competition that pits the brightest young minds from across the country against each other.

Not a bad showing, particularly considering the winning team broke the competition’s all-time point record with 52,260 out of a possible 60,000. The El Camino team nabbed 49,520 points, more than 1,500 ahead of its nearest competitor. The team’s achievement was compounded by its sportsmanship. Sure, it would have been nice to win, but team member Jackie Moses summed it up when she quipped: “We take pride in being second.”

As well they should. The countless hours the team spent preparing for the grueling duel of intellects demonstrates a kind of dedication and perseverance for which young people rarely get recognized. In that sense, they remind us how much promise young minds can have. Second place? Not to us.