Three William S. Hart Union High School District academic decathlon teams received medals at the L.A. County Office of Education awards banquet held last month, with Saugus High taking 11th in Division I, West Ranch High taking sixth in Division II and Golden Valley High placing fourth in Division III.
The awards banquet was held at Sheraton LAX. A total of 37 teams competed from across the county. Alhambra High School took first place overall.
Saugus coach Jodi Guerrero, an English teacher at the school, said the students who competed are some of the hardest-working in the entire county, studying for close to a year on top of their other responsibilities as young adults. She added that the key to having a strong team is collaboration.
“This is on top of very heavy loads,” Guerrero said in a phone interview. “Some of them are taking classes at (College of the Canyons), some of them are taking (advanced placement) classes. But what’s really wonderful about it is there is a huge collaboration, and because it’s all levels from ninth grade to 12th grade, they really provide a lot of support and encouragement.”
The actual competition took place over three non-consecutive days: Essay on Jan. 17 at each respective home school; Speech, Interview and Superquiz on Jan. 27 at San Gabriel High School; and seven multiple-choice tests at each home school on Feb. 3. The overarching theme for this year’s competition was Technology and Humanity.
West Ranch received the most individual medals of the three local teams with 14, followed by Saugus with nine and Golden Valley with eight.
The top individual medal-winner was West Ranch junior Taha Hanif, who garnered six medals, including top overall team scorer. He also picked up gold in Essay and Science, silver in Social Science and bronze in Art and Interview, earning a $250 scholarship from the California Credit Union in the process.
Saugus sophomore Owen Higgins was just behind with five medals. He also earned top team scorer to go along with gold in Interview, Speech and Essay, adding a silver in Science.
“He’s really a standout,” Guerrero said. “A lot of what he did is he just really read the packets, he created PowerPoints and Quizlet games for everybody to use. He was just really dedicated and just a very generous and nice guy as well. So, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer kid.”
While not guaranteeing anything, Guerrero is looking forward to what Higgins can accomplish in the next two years. The sophomore Centurion was competing against mostly seniors in the Honors-level competition, the highest of the three levels of competition.
“I’m really excited that he’s a 10th grader because he’s gonna be around a couple more years,” Guerrero said. “To do it in Honors against 12th-graders from other schools, it’s amazing. The kid is phenomenal, truly. But it’s a team effort.”
Alana Anil was the top scorer for Golden Valley and also earned gold in Speech and silver in Science.
Other medalists from West Ranch include:
- Leia Ray: Art (silver), Music (gold).
- Sophia Vlach: Art (gold), Literature (silver).
- Beaumee Hahn: Interview (bronze).
- Victoria Vo: Speech (silver).
Other medalists from Saugus include:
- Jennifer Wang: Speech (bronze).
- Siddh Bhavsar: Speech (bronze).
- Sophia Mercer: Essay (silver).
- Rafid Talukder: Essay (bronze).
Other medalists from Golden Valley include:
- Clara Kim: Essay (gold).
- Teodoro Han: Interview (gold).
- Janice Jin: Interview (bronze).
- Arran Teerataluengkiat: Literature (bronze), Math (bronze).
Guerrero said she and the other two coaches are simply guides during the process, letting the students get themselves prepared. Each student, she said, has their own expertise in a subject area, allowing everyone to teach everyone.
“Sometimes I feel dwarfed by all the things they know,” Guerrero said. “I don’t pretend to be an expert in all subjects. That’s why we have more of an egalitarian kind of teaching style here. Obviously, I take on literature, but we share and divide and conquer, basically, in order to do this.”
The Saugus team is set to compete in the Octathlon later this month. That includes tests and essay only. Individuals from the Saugus program will also be competing in the Heptathlon, which is tests only.
