John Wesley North High School - Aurora Yearbook (Riverside, CA)

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Gadzooks! exclaims an astounded Sabrina Crannan, as she jokes with teammate, Steve Wong. Humor and digression often served to lighten up otherwise hum-drum meetings. Pausing to look over his notes, Mr. Liboh lounges comfortably at a night meeting. The team met for an average of five or more hours each week. icning the tejoi tnascot for emotional support, Edie ing prepares to compete in the super quiz North answered lestions totaling 2,800 points, tying two other schools for hird place in the event. ACADEMIC DECATHLON TEAM, FRONT ROW: Sean Clegg, Caroline Pegis. Edie Chang, Sabrina Crannan, Wendy Roger, Dean Sanematsu. Steve Wong, TOP ROW: Lynne Wcsiafer. David Moberly, Catherine DeHayes, Coach Libolt (not pictured Jennifer Deal) D e c a t h 1 o n academic decathlon 209

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A c a d e m 1 c ' We ' re Number Two!! ' T did it for the company, re- L marked Edie Chang as she at- tempted to explain what had actual- ly compelled her to spend long hours interpreting poetry, discuss- ing the various battle strategies of World War II, and boning up on immigration (of all things!). Aca- demic Decathlon, she continued, is much more like being on an athletic team than other academic endeavors. Individual achievement is secondary, and the success of the team as a whole is what ' s most im- portant. Together, North ' s eleven decatha- letes made an impressive showing, taking first runner-up out of four- teen schools in Riverside county ' s fifth annual Academic Decathlon. Working together for a combined total of 35,069 points. North fin- ished approximately 2500 points behind county champ ' s Poly. The actual Decathlon consisted of a day long competition, in which comprehensive tests were given in writing, math, science, social stud- ies, English, fine arts, interview, and speech. Finally, the day was capped off by an oral superquiz on immigration. Teams consisted of students r epresenting three sep- arate grade point categories, an Honors (A) division, a Scholastic (B) division, and a Varsity (C) division. Aside from their outstanding showing as a team. North ' s indi- vidual accomplishments were even more impressive. Capturing first in fine arts and economics and plac- ing in the top three in practically every other discipline, Sabrina Grannan took honors as the indi- vidual sweepstakes winner, with the highest accumulative score to- tal. When asked about her success, Grannan replied, I won a lot of nice medals to show to my grand- children. Not to be out done Chang took first place in speech, and every other member of the team brought home medals for out- standing achievement. All together, North won thirty-three individual and team trophies. Awards were not limited to the starting six, however, as Wendy Roger and Sean Clegg had the highest two over all scores, respec- tively, in the alternates ' competi- tion. All of the decathletes seemed to agree that the greatest contribu- tions to the success of the team were made by their fearless leader and coach, Mr. Chuck Libolt. He has a whole filing cabinet full of just decathalon stuff! exclaimed David Moberly. Now is that true dedication, or what? The efforts expended by members of the teach- ing staff were also invaluable. Mi- chael Childers, Michele Lieux, Lin- da McCaskill, Gary Puffer, and John Reinhold sacrificed many after school hours in order to help the team in training. The actual competition was, for most, a very anticlimactic end to the season, however. I really looked forward to the meetings, sit- ting in people ' s living rooms while eating junkfood and digressing from whatever we were supposed to be covering that night, said Dean Sanematsu. Steve Wong sgreed, It wasn ' t the medals or the achievements, but the people that made the experience special. 208 academics

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A hunched over Felix Brustos sprays to guard against weeds. Ag. students often underwent such hands-on training in order to learn more about the rudiments of the field. Pausing in a moment of contemplation, Lorena Showing his better half, Dancer, the steer Kendrik gazes ahead. Although, at times, driver stands solemnly. Students taking classes on the ed. was frustrating, most felt that it proved to be social studies wing became quite familiar with a profitable experience. the noble beast, catching frequent glimpses of him behind the chain-link fence. 210 academics