Granada Hills Charter High School won the U.S. Academic Decathlon on Saturday, beating out 35 other teams in the national competition. (Courtesy of Cliff Ker)
Granada Hills Charter High School (GHCHS) took first place in the National Academic Decathlon competition in a crowded field that included past national champions J. Frank Dobie High School (Texas) and Waukesha High School (Wisconsin).
The GHCHS team earned 52,113.5 points, 1750 points more than the 2nd place team. A breakdown of school scores and medals will be available this weekend on the GHCHS website.
Not only is this the first National Academic Decathlon title for GHCHS, it is their first-ever trip to the national competition.
“I am so proud of our GHCHS decathletes and their coaches for their first national title,” said Executive Director Brian Bauer. “The GHCHS community is ecstatic about this amazing feat and honored to be represented by such an outstanding group of young people. We look forward to their triumphant return to campus.”
The winning team includes 12th graders Austin Kang, Harsimar Dhanoa, Elysia Eastty, Joon Lee, Shagun Goyal, Riki Higashida, Eugene Lee, Sindhura Seeni, and 10th grader Celine Ta. The team is coached by Matt Arnold, Nick Weber, and Spencer Wolf.
The decathletes, their coaches, and administrator Julia Howelman will return to GHCHS Monday at 7:45am to a celebratory “welcome back” at the school entrance, followed by a team and parent breakfast.
