Granada Hills Charter school crowned national academic decathlon champs second year in a row

GRANADA HILLS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Granada Hills Charter school is celebrating after capturing its second straight national academic decathlon title.

The school's decathlon team won over the weekend -- its overall ninth national title.

The team scored more than 52,300 points to claim the title.

Coach Tyler Lee says his students worked hard all year, and demonstrated real determination and dedication.

The School's nine-member team included: Zainab Al-Atya, Lily Fairbank-Bermejo, Vivian Le, Anthony Mercado, Vanessa Miller, Elyssa Nguyen, Kira Pospeshil, Matthew Salcedo, Colby Sapera, Garrett Scott and Mason Wong.

"I'm very excited, very proud of all my teammates. We worked really hard all year," said Fairbank-Bermejo in a statement. "It's great to see the success that comes from all the hard work that we put in come to fruition.

This year's national decathlon competition focused on water topics.

"That we were learning about water, which is such a critical resource for us in California, made it that much more relevant to us all," Fairbank-Bermejo said.

The Academic Decathlon includes multiple-choice exams in each of its seven subjects, which include science, literature, art, music, social science, economics and math.

The competition also includes essays, speeches, fast-paced super quiz relay, and involves 10 events revolving around a central topic.

School officials say that the 2022-23 competition will focus on "The American Revolution and the New Nation."