Southwest High wins top honor
S. County schools finish 1-2-3 in county Academic Decathlon
By Liz Neely
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
CHULA
VISTA – Southwest High School has won the countywide Academic Decathlon
for the first time, earning a spot at the state finals next month.
Southwest beat 28 San Diego County schools, including two other high
schools from the Sweetwater Union High School
District. Bonita Vista High and
Eastlake High came in second and third, respectively.
The competition was held Saturday at Hilltop High and the awards were
announced Thursday evening. The win is a first for Southwest, but it
marks the fourth straight year a Sweetwater school has placed first.
Hilltop High has won the county title the last three years.
Before the district's winning streak began in 2000, South County high
schools had never won the county competition. Last year Southwest came
in fifth, while Bonita Vista came in sixth and Eastlake came in eighth.
Southwest will represent the county at the State Academic Decathlon
March 6-9 in Modesto.
The decathlon is an intense competition that includes multiple choice
tests in several subjects, written essays, speeches and a college
bowl-type test called the Super Quiz. This year's theme was
"Understanding the Natural World."
Southwest also won 21 individual medals.
"We really consider this to be a huge honor," said Southwest Principal
John Devore. "This recognition helps us convince kids that if they work
hard at something they can achieve.
Students sacrifice a lot to be part of a winning team, said John Boulton,
who coaches the Academic Decathlon team. To prepare for the county
competition, students spend as much as three hours a day studying, he
said.
"They don't have much time for anything else," Boulton said. "They
really have to be dedicated to this."
Members of the winning team are Abigail Criss, Maricon Cueno, Cassandra
Imel, Ana Marin, Glenn Liangco, Jonathan Gonzalez, Melissa Delvalle,
Natalie Eribez and Orlando Escobales.
Liz Neely: (619) 498-6631;
liz.neely@uniontrib.com
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