The Los Angeles Unified School District holds Academic Decathlon competitions every year. In past years, LAUSD teams have gone on to win regional and national championships. Contests are both individual- and team-based.

Members of Granada Hills Charter High School's Academic Decathlon winning team this year are Austin Kang, Celina Ta, Joon Lee, Harsimar Dhanoa, Shagun Goyal, Eugene Lee, Elysia Eastty, Riki Higashida and Sindhura Seeni.

In spite of the fact that Granada Hills' base population has a high percentage of ethnic white students, it was interesting to me that, judging solely by the names, most of the students on the winning team are of Asian ethnicity. I'm not sure about "Eastty".

While not entirely based on rote memorization, the Decathlon contest does rely heavily on memory and recall, not so much on analysis and critical thinking. The competition consists of seven multiple choice tests, two performance events, and an essay.

Still and however, interesting, I thought.