Bright students shine in competition

BY STEPHANIE BERTHOLDO bertholdo@theacorn.com

SUPER QUIZ, SUPER KIDS-The Oak Park High School Aca-demic Decathlon team turns in a respectable showing. The team is coached by Cheryl DiSpaltro.

Moorpark dominated the competition last week in the high school battle of the brains at the 2005 Ventura County Academic Decathlon.

The Muskies captured the top team award and won first place in 10 events (essay, interview, speech, mathematics, language and literature, music, economics, social science, art, and super quiz).

Moorpark High School’s team, coached by Larry Jones, will compete for the state title in Sacramento next month. Moorpark also won the 2003 national title under Jones. Last year, the school did not field any teams.

Phil Gore, coordinator of the event, explained at the awards ceremony in Oxnard last Sunday that 33 teams have been preparing for the challenge since the summer. He added that this year’s competition was the biggest ever, with 19 schools, and more than 260 decathletes participating.

Out of a possible 60,000 points, Moorpark’s Team "A" scored 48,692 points. The school’s "B" Team scored 43,208 points, capturing second place overall.

Third place went to last year’s champions, Simi Valley’s Team "A", which recorded 35,404 points. Westlake High School was fourth (33,577 points). Thousand Oaks’ "A" team was seventh, followed by Oak Park’s "A" team. Oak Park’s "B" team finished 13th, while Newbury Park was 21st, and Thousand Oak’s "B" team was 22nd.

Individual awards were accepted by scores of students throughout the region.

Moorpark students stole the show, winning 108 individual medals, followed by Newbury Park, students, who came home with 32 medals in the various categories.

Simi Valley’s three teams tallied 22 individual medals, while Oak Park and Thousand Oaks tied with 16 individual medals apiece. Westlake students brought home 12 medals.

Participants were from Moorpark, Oak Park, Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park Westlake, Royal, Simi Valley and Santa Susana high schools. Camarillo, Oxnard, and Ventura schools also participated.

Astronomy questions were posed to students during the super quiz event, a rapid-fire relay between sets of students at each school.

Moorpark teams ranked first and second, followed by Simi Valley’s "A" team. Oak Park finished fourth and Westlake was fifth.

Charles Weis, Ventura County superintendent of schools, hosted super quiz. "This is the Super Bowl of academics," Weis said.

The Ventura County superintendent has hosted the Academic Decathlon for 23 years.

It’s considered the premier academic event for high school students at the county, state and national levels.