CITY NEWS SERVICE
Los Angeles City Councilmember Mitchell Englander and Granada Hills Charter High School officials on July 2 unveiled a plaque honoring the school’s Academic Decathlon team, which won its second consecutive national title.
“The sign that we are unveiling today is a message to every student, parent and teacher in my district that by working together, studying and persevering, kids can get a great education in Los Angeles and reach their dreams,” Englander said.
About 100 people were on hand for the event, which included music from the Granada Hills Highlanders marching band. The plaque is underneath a street sign in front of the school.
Englander noted that the team did not just win the national competition, but dominated. The team earned a record high score for the event during the April competition in Albuquerque.
“The reigning champ beat out teams from 30 other states and one from London in the finals,” he said.
Sean Levy led the team with 9,441 individual points. Lev Tauz was close behind with 9,430, and Jimmy Wu had 9,182. Other team members are Christian Koguchi, Stella Lee, Priscilla Liu, Kimberly Ly, Hamidah Mahmoud, Julia Wall and Sean Wejebe.
Granada Hills is only the third school in history to win back-to-back titles, and remains the only charter school to win in the 30-year history of the competition. The team from the San Fernando Valley won 54.081 out of 60,000 possible points.
