LA County Schools Compete In Calif. Academic Decathlon

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Students from 18 high schools in Los Angeles County are in Sacramento this weekend, competing in the 2011 California Academic Decathlon.

West High School of Torrance, which won the Los Angeles County Academic Decathlon for the third year in a row, leads the list of schools representing the county.

Six other schools in the county competition qualified as "wild card" teams for the statewide contest. They include: Mark Keppel High School of Alhambra; Alhambra High School; Torrance High School; Burbank High School; El Rancho High School of Pico Rivera; South High School of Torrance; and West Ranch High School of Stevenson Ranch.

The Los Angeles Unified School District contingent is led by Granada Hills Charter High School, which won the district's local competition.

Ten other LAUSD teams will be heading to the competition with wild-card bids: Canoga Park, Franklin, Garfield, Marshall, Palisades Charter, San Fernando, Taft, Van Nuys and Venice high schools.

The winner of the California Academic Decathlon will be announced Monday in Sacramento.

A total of 65 teams from schools across the state are expected to compete. The winning team will represent California at the U.S. Academic Decathlon in Charlotte, N.C.

This year's study topic is the Great Depression.

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