Watch CBS News

El Camino Real High School Celebrates State Academic Decathlon Win

WOODLAND HILLS (CBSLA.com) — El Camino Real High School Monday welcomed home their academic decathlon team after they won the state competition over the weekend.

The El Camino team narrowly beat out crosstown rivals Granada Hills Charter High, which placed second, followed by Marshal High School in third place.

Granada Hills had won the last three state Deacthlons, and won the National Academic Decathlon last year, the LAUSD said.

Teams are mixed with three "honors" students, who have 3.75-plus grade point averages, three "scholastic" students with GPAs between 3.0 and 3.74, and three "varsity" students with lesser grades.

El Camino's team members are Justin Chau, Neelem Sheikh and Thasneem Syed in the honors division; Melissa Cheng, Sandra Vadin and Eric Yun in the scholastic division; and Jose Apolaya, Rohan Boone and Brandon Slater in the varisty division.

Their coach is Stephanie Franklin.

Since 1991, El Camino Real has won 10 state titles and six national championships.

A formal celebration for the team will be held Tuesday at 10 a.m.

Both El Camino and Granada Hills high schools will go onto the national Academic Decathlon in April in Honolulu.

(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.