For the third straight year, El Camino Real Charter High School (ECR) took the top spot in the 2025 California Academic Decathlon State Championship this weekend, continuing the school’s dominance in the competition.
This is the 15th win overall for the school, as well as their first third consecutive win. In addition, out of all the schools that participated in state academic decathlons this year, ECR’s team scored the highest number of points at 53,071.
ECR is one of four California schools that will compete in the United States Academic Decathlon National Championship in Des Moines, Iowa, beginning May 1, where they aim to win their 11th title.
The nine students representing the Woodland Hills school are Ashley Acosta, Enoch Chan, Darren Du, Brendan Luna, Bahar Mirzajanzadeh, Emily Simms, Yash Singhal, Leanne Warren and Zarah Zuhair.
“El Camino Real is a dynasty when it comes to academic decathlons,” said Stephanie Franklin, the decathlon head coach and an English teacher. “The school is built on academic excellence, and this school decathlon is part of how we live and breathe. We’re the only school in the nation that has 10 national titles.”
The students have been preparing for these competitions since last summer, beginning with the month-long tryout period. Franklin said that being in the program is something both students and their families have to commit to, as the preparation and practice they have to go through is “intense.”
Unlike other academic competitions like the Science Bowl, where participants can specialize in a specific field – chemistry, biology, earth science, etc. – Franklin said students in academic decathlons have to master a wide variety of subjects, including art, literature, art, economics, music and math. They also must be able to write an essay, give a speech and then do an interview.
“It’s the best college prep program we have at our school because it makes them completely balanced,” Franklin said. “[At the end,] an almost Renaissance student comes out of the program, ready to tackle anything that’s going to come toward them in college or anything else in life.”
Franklin said a lot of team building goes into it, as the students spend so much time together “they’re almost siblings.” A lot of work goes into ensuring their personalities match and gel together, especially within their smaller groups.
Every team participating in the decathlon is divided into three divisions – called Honor, Scholastic and Varsity – which have to collaborate against other schools. ECR excelled in all three divisions, taking the top spot for the highest individual scoring student in each of them.
She highlighted one student, Darren, who ranked second in the nation last year. Little more than a week before this year’s decathlon, he came down with the flu, which took a toll on his health. His team wondered if he would be well enough to compete, but he persevered and, as Franklin put it, “got the job done.”
“Darren still broke 9,000 points out of 10,000, which is amazing,” she said. “Only six kids in the entire competition broke 9,000 points. Darren was able to do it, and the rest of the team still rose to the occasion.”
But with the state competition behind them, the students now have to look ahead to the national championship. Not only will they go into it as the number one seed, but there’s also the added weight of continuing a 21-year streak of a California school winning the championship.
Franklin described it as “the most pressure these kids have ever faced in their lives.” To keep them focused and not let the pressure get to them, she said they take one moment at a time and she doesn’t let them dwell on their doubts or “what if” scenarios.
“The first competition we do, which is our regional competition, we tell our students … it’s for their parents. When we go to the state competition, we do that for our school,” Franklin explained. “When we go to nationals, we go for ourselves because by then, we’ve done our jobs. … In my eyes, by the time we get there, they’ve won already.”