Great Expectations

Following on the heels of another San Fernando Valley school’s success at the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Academic Decathlon--and its own fifth-place finish in that competition--North Hollywood High School took top honors in the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Science Bowl last weekend.

And as if that were not impressive enough, another North Hollywood High team took second place.

Rounding out the top four spots were two other Valley schools--A.G.B.U. Manoogian-Demirdjian School, a private Armenian campus in Canoga Park, in third place, and Woodland Hills’ El Camino Real High School--the decathlon champs--in fourth.

This is North Hollywood’s fourth consecutive victory in the quiz show-style competition on science, math and technology. Now team captain Jeff Zira and members Daniel Bersohn, Julia Hu, Jeanne Shen and David Lee go on to compete in the National Science Bowl sponsored by the U. S. Department of Energy from May 5-8 in Washington, D.C.

The school placed fourth in the national competition last year and second in 1998 and 1999, so expectations are high. But, hey, that’s one reason North Hollywood has gotten as far as it has.

And that’s a lesson every school can take from its success.