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Beverly Hills High academic decathlon advances to state; four students named National Merit finalists
Summary
At the Feb. 25 board meeting BHHS academic decathlon team members were honored for placing among the top regional teams and advancing to state; four students were also recognized as National Merit Scholarship Program finalists.
The Beverly Hills Unified School District Board of Education honored Beverly Hills High School’s academic decathlon team and four National Merit Scholarship Program finalists at the Feb. 25 meeting.
Teacher and coach Marie Fine and Principal Drew Stewart introduced the academic decathlon team after the board’s opening ceremonies. The team placed fifth out of 55 teams in the Los Angeles County regional competition and will advance to the California state contest. Principal Stewart and Fine listed individual medals earned by team members: Jacob Treiman earned golds and perfect scores in speech and interview; Sarah Zhang was named the top scoring team decathlete; Karina Kruger, Nicholas Lau, Leah Levy, Alicia Reed, Peter Kang and Lindsay Jada Moreno also earned medals in events including essay, speech, interview, math and art. The team’s next events include an on‑campus state essay test and an in‑person state competition in Santa Clara.
Separately, Principal Stewart announced four BHHS students who had advanced to the National Merit Scholarship finalist stage: Benjamin Bakshian, Tali Goldkorn, AJ Smiler and Sarah Zhang. Stewart noted the program narrows an initial field of more than 1.5 million entrants to roughly 15,000 finalists nationwide.
Board members praised the student achievements and coaches. “You guys are what’s right about Beverly,” Board Member Russell Stewart told students. Several board members encouraged seniors to mentor freshmen and younger students to help sustain programs.
Why it matters: Academic decathlon and National Merit honors reflect schoolwide academic programs and provide public recognition of student achievement. The decathlon’s state qualification and finalist recognitions are milestones for participating students and the district’s reputation for academic achievement.
