Cheers for the Scholars

Recent criticism of the Academic Decathlon organization does nothing to reduce the awesome achievement of the team from Simi Valley High School. These nine young scholars won the state championships in March and last weekend took the second-place trophy at the national competition in Texas.

“Until they’re parents, they’ll never know how proud adults can be,” Simi Valley Principal Dennis Rast told The Times. “To see them do what they did, it’s just short of a miracle.”

This year’s competition was marked by controversy after dozens of coaches criticized the national organization for promoting rote memorization over critical thinking. In response, the board of the United State Academic Decathlon voted unanimously to overhaul the curriculum, publish fewer study guides and lower the cost of materials. (Former Moorpark High School coach Larry Jones discusses this controversy on today’s Ventura County Perspective page.)

But all that debate might as well have been happening on another planet last weekend as 400 scholars from 38 states knuckled down for the championship round.

The Times offers hearty congratulations to Simi Valley decathletes David Bartlett, 18; Steve Mihalovits, 17; Cary Opel, 18; Jeff Robertson, 18; Kevin White, 17; Jennifer Tran, 17; Mike Truex, 18; Justin Underhill, 17; and Randy Xu, 17; to their parents and teachers; and to their coaches Ken and Sally Hibbitts.

All of Ventura County is proud of this smart, spirited, hard-working crew.