Athletes, Others Train for Brain Games

Football players, track stars, actors, jazz musicians and a homecoming princess are among key members of high school teams preparing for Ventura County’s annual Academic Decathlon beginning this month.

Over its 16 years, the event has taught many students and teachers that being smart doesn’t necessarily mean being a card-carrying geek.

“It isn’t just for the total dork,” said Laura Marlier, a bubbly Moorpark High School senior who was voted homecoming princess in the fall and is student body president.

“I know it seems kind of weird. The stereotypical homecoming princess is thought of as a little bimbo who doesn’t really have a brain.”

Laura and about 160 other students from 13 local schools are preparing for the county’s 16th Academic Decathlon, the local battle of wits that is part ofthe United States’ premier scholastic competition that began in Orange County in the late 1960s.

Competing this year are teams from Camarillo High School; Moorpark High School; Newbury Park High School; Oxnard, Channel Islands, Rio Mesa and Hueneme high schools in Oxnard; Santa Susana and Simi Valley high schools in Simi Valley; Thousand Oaks High School; Westlake High School in Westlake Village; and Ventura and Buena high schools in Ventura.

The first round of competition will be held Jan. 10 at Oxnard High School. Teams of nine students--divided into three levels based on their grade-point averages--will be judged on prepared and impromptu speeches, interviews and essays. The final part of the test will be Feb. 7, when decathletes will answer questions in front of their parents and friends, not to mention a panel of judges, at Oxnard High’s gym.

This year’s topics focus on the globalization of the economy, with an emphasis on Hong Kong, and Charlotte Bronte’s novel “Jane Eyre.”

“It’s good to dispel the myth” that only nerds join the Academic Decathlon team, said Phil Gore, the county director of district school administrative support services who is running this year’s event.

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“There is always the spotlight on athletics to be successful and cool,” Gore said. “The decathlon is also a way to spotlight the value of academics and show kids that that’s a pretty cool thing, too.”

For John Ellis, a Moorpark High junior with a 2.5 grade-point average, being part of the academic team is not only cool, but also a sure-fire way to help his future.

Although he played junior varsity football for two years, John gave up his role as a defensive back to study state gun laws, the philosophical meaning of immortality and differential calculus.

“The Academic Decathlon gives me something after high school,” said the 16-year-old. “It’s my ticket into college.”

He said he was tapped on the shoulder last year by history teacher and Academic Decathlon coach Larry Jones to join the team. His first reaction: “No, I want to play football.” But after thinking about it, he made his decision--without his parents’ influence--that college was important to him.

As for his football buddies, John said they were sad that he no longer was on the team, but understood his decision.

“I didn’t hang out with only jocks anyway,” he said.

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Although the academic competition enjoys certain recognition on campus--especially when the teams win--teachers say not enough resources or energy is devoted to the decathlon, compared with what goes to sports.

Ken Hibbitts, Simi Valley High School’s Academic Decathlon coach, said it’s a “great deal of work” to muster up the annual $3,000 in private funds he needs to buy the preparatory materials.

And since his team has won the county competition for the last two years, he needs to worry about raising another $2,000 to send his team to the state games. He notes, however, that he is allowed to run an Academic Decathlon class during school time and that the Simi Valley Unified School District covers the $500 county registration fee for the school’s two teams.

And even though Moorpark High coach Jones also is thankful to his school district and principal for allowing him to offer the academic training class as an elective course during the school day, he agreed that it is a struggle to find money.

“It’s a bone of contention,” he said, referring to the energy devoted to sports programs and the recognition given to academic competitors. “Athletics are real important as a part of an education. But sometimes academics don’t get the same attention that football gets.”