Who’s Got The Smartest High Schoolers? LEUSD Kids Are In The Running

Of the 19 high schools entered in this year’s 30th annual Riverside County Academic Decathlon, the Lake Elsinore Unified School District can claim three of them.

Elsinore, Lakeside and Temescal Canyon high schools will each send a team of students to the prestigious competition that begins Saturday, Riverside County of Education spokesman Rick Peoples reported this week.

The 19 teams totaling nearly 180 students will gather at Heritage High School in Menifee, where they will be challenged to write essays, give impromptu and prepared speeches, and participate in oral interviews with judges, Peoples said.

Then on Feb. 2, the teams will reconvene at the school for Round 2 of the competition, where they will take seven written tests and finish the day in a "Super Quiz" competition. Individual and team winners will be announced during an awards ceremony to be held at the end of the day's competition, the spokesman said.

The winning team will go on to compete at the California Academic Decathlon to be held March 14-17, 2013 in Sacramento. 

Each year the county decathlon has a theme, and this year's is Russia.

In 2012, the Elsinore High School decathlon team was invited to the state championship in Sacramento. While all three LEUSD high schools competed at the county level, only Elsinore made it to the state competition. Click here to read more about that story.

Elsinore High School has consistently placed near the top of the pack in Riverside County, and during last year’s state competition three of the Elsinore team members walked away with decathlon medals. Click here to read a touching tribute to the 2012 Elsinore High School decathlon team.

Below is the list of schools that will be sending teams to the 2013 county decathlon:

·       Beaumont High School

·       Corona High School

·       Elsinore High School

·       Great Oak High School

·       Hemet High School

·       Heritage High School

·       La Sierra High School

·       Lakeside High School

·       Moreno Valley High School

·       Norte Vista High School

·       North High School

·       Palm Desert High School

·       Perris High School

·       Rancho Verde High School

·       (Eleanor) Roosevelt High School

·       Temecula Preparatory School

·       Temescal Canyon High School

·       Valley View High School

·       West Valley High School

For additional information about this year's decathlon, contact Tracey Rivas, (951) 826-6570, trivas@rcoe.us.