El Camino Cheers Decathlon Winners
El Camino Real High School students, faculty and parents turned out Monday to celebrate the Academic Decathlon team’s sixth consecutive school district win and trip to the state finals.
The nine team members, all seniors and all in their first year of Academic Decathlon competition, received certificates of appreciation from Los Angeles Unified School District board member Valerie Fields.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Feb. 14, 2001 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday February 14, 2001 Valley Edition Metro Part B Page 3 Zones Desk 1 inches; 23 words Type of Material: Correction
Academic decathlon--A photo caption Tuesday incorrectly identified a member of the El Camino Real Academic Decathlon team as Scott Lulovics. He is Alan Wittenberg.
The students said they are hoping for a strong showing in the state competition, to be held March 16-18 in Los Angeles. The national finals will be held in Anchorage, beginning April 16.
“When the state comes, that’s when the real competition gets started,” said Dennis Kuo, the team’s and district’s highest point getter. “I want to win the state, so we can go on to Alaska.”
El Camino Real last won both state and national competitions in 1998.
About 100 people attended Monday’s rally, a smaller turnout than expected. Principal Ron Bauer said the weather and the team’s perennial success in the competition were to blame.
“We originally planned to have it outdoors. We would normally attract students with the volume of the music,” Bauer said.
Also, “there’s a certain level of ‘we’ve been there and done that before,’ ” he said.
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