Nine El Camino Real Charter High School students started out as strangers, before securing coveted spots on the school’s academic decathlon team. And after a year of bonding through intensive study sessions in Classroom S3 and lots of late night laughs, they emerged as friends, unofficial siblings — and national champions.
“We laugh like siblings and we fight like siblings,” 17-year-old academic decathlete Eva Konstantini said. “We’re constantly there for each other. Growing with this team and winning (nationals) was the greatest experience of my life.”
Announced at an awards ceremony filled with nervous fidgeting that transformed into erupting applause, the El Camino Real Charter High School team won the 2024 U.S. National Academic Decathlon on Saturday, April 27 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the second year in a row. Their win, the school’s 10th, propelled El Camino ahead of Granada Hills Charter High School for holding the most academic decathlon championships in the U.S.
“I’ve improved in so many ways I never thought I would,” 18-year-old Willa Porter said. “And winning, it was that amazing sensation of knowing everything has paid off.”
The team scored 51,068.4 points out of the 60,000 points possible.
“We were really feeling like we were chasing destiny,” said Stephanie Franklin, the team’s veteran head coach and an English teacher at El Camino. “It was really exciting for me and for the kids. We’re playing a part in the school’s history.”
The team spent the weekend competing against 59 other schools from across the country. They put their year of studying to use, answering high-stakes live trivia, toughing out timed essays and presenting impromptu speeches. The competition spanned 10 subject areas, including art, economics, science and math, all relating to this year’s theme, “technology and humanity.”
This year’s theme allowed Franklin to teach her Generation Z students some pop culture history.
“All of my obsolete knowledge is now viable, so it was a lot of fun,” Franklin said. “My husband has a Commodore 64 computer still in the garage and I brought it in so the kids could see it. They’ve now seen floppy disks and a dot matrix printer.”
El Camino is one of three local schools, along with Granada Hills Charter High School and Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, that competed in the national competition, carrying on the San Fernando Valley’s legacy of academic decathlon excellence.
Related Articles
UCLA faculty walk out as pro-Palestine demonstrations, counterprotests grow across SoCal campuses
Deputies leave UC Irvine, though protesters still prepping to sleep on campus
2024 high school grads could face nearly $37K in college debt
Will more graduations get canceled? Southern California colleges grapple with safety amid Gaza protests
Want a future in game shows? Cal State LA says come on down
El Camino’s team included students Darren Du, Jacob Faye, Willa Porter, Ambika Chhikara, Eva Konstantini, Lincoln Webster, Adra Ellis, Jayden Escobedo and Niki Safaie, as well as head coach Stephanie Franklin and assistant coaches Karen Evens, John Dalsass and Nathaniel Jones.
The students said they worked to strengthen weak points, while building on subjects they were best at. While some of the whiz kids loved neuroscience and struggled more with music, others excelled at art and dreaded economics. The strategy of all-around growth yielded impressive results, with six of El Camino’s students placing in the top nine highest individual scorers nationwide.
Under U.S. Academic Decathlon policies, each school’s nine-member team was split into three trios, separated by grade point averages. The teams were varsity (3.199 Grade Point Average and below), scholastic (3.2 to 3.799 GPA) and honors (3.8 GPA and above).
“I did have the intelligence, but before academic decathlon I didn’t have the ability to use it,” said 18-year-old Adra Ellis, a member of El Camino’s varsity division. “I was super easily distracted and even when I sat down to study, I didn’t know how to study well. Now, I feel so much more confident through all the support.”
As graduation nears for the seniors on the team, they are eyeing their next academic adventures in college.
“Our win wasn’t because we’re smart, it was because we’re a team,” 18-year-old Jacob Faye said. “We really forged a connection with each other, and that will last.”