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This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

News

High school smarts

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Leonardo DaVinci lived in all of the following except:

Milan
Amsterdam
Rome
France

You have 7 seconds. (no googling)

That was the first question of the 2006 LAUSD academic decathlon superquiz. It's being broadcast now on KCLS and will be rebroadcast on LA36. The theme? The Renaissance. Today there are local competitions; state finals run from March 16-19. LA's own El Camino Real High School was last year's national champs, but Taft ruled at the local level. One cool thing about the local coverage is the announcers read every student's name as each team walks in. The smart kids in this city are as diverse a group as any on the planet.

The students study like gangbusters and memorize reams of facts. Playing from home is like watching Jeaopardy, only at least twice as hard, never deviating from the most difficult topic, getting harder all the time. That question up top is the easiest. (The answer is Amsterdam. DaVinci never lived in Amsterdam.) From LAist, props to every kid who's in the game.

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