The Burbank High School Academic Decathlon team is headed to the state championships in Sacramento. Qualifying for the state level was no easy task, with BHS beating out 47 other schools in L.A. County to earn a place in the top 8.
Burbank High School came in 5th overall as a team with a final point score of 40,600 out of possible 60,000. When you consider that in the history of the Academic Decathlon, only three schools have ever achieved more than 50,000 points, the team has a right to feel proud.
Senior Benjamin Reyes, BHS Academic Decathlon President, was awarded a special honor plaque for scoring more than 8,000 individual points, and several sectional awards were won by the team including placing 1st in the oral Superquiz, 3rd overall in the Superquiz (written and oral), and 5th overall as a team, having earned the top two scores by team members in each category. The students won 58 gold, silver, and bronze medals, and the coaches earned two medals each bringing the total for the BHS team to 62 medals.
Led by Val Beidelman, who has taught English for 24 years and coached the AD at BHS for 23 years, and Vincent Bolante, BHS alumnus and volunteer, the team heads to Sacramento on March 12-14. Individual team members and their scores are listed below:
Benjamin Reyes – 8,146
Hector Santa Cruz – 7, 924
Mariam Kyarunts – 7,431
Rafael Santa Cruz – 7,095
Audrey Min – 7,236
Amanda Porreca – 5909
Marc Hoffman – 5,037
Bruno Maynez – 5,168
