BY CRAIG SHULTZ
Hemet’s transition from a rural community to a senior haven to a city of more than 80,000 residents has not necessarily been a smooth one, but one constant has remained: a steady stream of top scholars. The district’s high schools annually send students to universities such as Harvard, Stanford and UCLA. A number of grads have gone on to careers in medicine, business and education, with a large number returning to teach in the district. That brainpower has been on display the past month as students from the Hemet Unified School District have placed high in a number of countywide competitions. West Valley High was the winner and Hemet High third in the Academic Decathlon; Julian Gonzalez of the Western Center Academy was second in the spelling bee; and the Hemet High Mock Trial team won its first championship. Schools Superintendent Barry Kayrell said a number of factors go into the success . “It’s a whole system put in place,” he said. “It’s not just one thing that makes them so competitive. It’s a tribute to the kids and the teachers who put in all the ex- Hemet schools score high in county academic competitions. tra time preparing for those competitions. It’s really a wide range of people.” Both Academic Decathlon and Mock Trial teams will compete in the state championship this week in Sacramento and Riverside, respectively, and Julian, a sixth-grader, will compete at the California State Elementary Spelling Bee on April 18 in Stockton. Academic Decathlon is a series of exams, speeches and interviews on a particular topic. It involves ninemember teams from A students to C students who are recommended by teachers and selected by the coach. In Mock Trial, high schoolers take on all courtroom roles, from bailiff to witness to attorney, and present a case in front of real judges. Those students are selected through tryouts. Besides coaches, who get a small stipend, other teachers and community members volunteer to help with the extracurricular activities. “Our coaches are invested in the kids,” Hemet High Principal Emily Shaw said. “They put in hundreds of hours. It’s also staff commitment and buy-in. It’s a community effort.” Students in both activi ties start practice beginning with the first days of school in August. They study after school and on weekends, on top of their regular class loads that for many include other activities, such as sports, band or drama. Michael Martin, highscorer for the West Valley Academic Decathlon team, said the groundwork for success was laid years before he arrived at the school. “I think it’s the culture we created around Academic Decathlon,” Martin, an 18-year-old senior said. “A lot of it has to do with our coaches. That’s the only thing that’s the same every year.” Either Hemet or West Valley has won the past 18 county titles and the current coaches competed for Hemet schools when they were students. Rich Herold, a coach in the Hemet High program from the mid-1980s to the early-2000s and the man credited with turning the school into a Academic Decathlon power, said the early goal was just to beat Riverside Poly, which dominated the decathlon. “When we first started the decathlon, we had no idea (what to expect),” he said. “As we went on, we just got better and better and the administration saw the benefit in how we showed in the standings.” Poly exited the decathlon and became a power in Mock Trial, where it was the four-time defending champion before Hemet won this year. Poly, along with schools in the Temecula, Corona and the Palm Springs area, are generally considered the academic powerhouses in the county, and Hemet is sometimes judged by some of its well-documented growing pains. “Everybody has that stigma,” Martin said. “It gives us extra motivation to do stuff, especially academically.” Hemet and West Valley may have a new challenger soon, as the new Academic Decathlon team at Tahquitz won some individual medals this year. MOCK TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIP
When: Friday to March 22 Where: Riverside Hall of Justice, Riverside Historic Courthouse and Riverside Convention Center Teams:34 high schools from throughout California, including Hemet and Redlands INLAND MOCK TRIAL TEAMS
Hemet High Jacob Arana, Julia Baggett, Taylor Boden, Barry Brockmeier, Crystal Chan, Ben Collins, Kyra Espinosa, McKay Formica, Maite Garcia, Anusha Koka, Krislyn LaCroix, Taylor Livingston, Beejen Patel, Alexis Peralta, Huck Rees, Nathan Saugstad, Danielle Simmons, Amanda Stewart, Sidney Yerger. Coach: James Walsh Redlands High Savannah Ceballos, Amaury Charpentier, Canyon Frost, Vibhi Ganapathy, Angelica Garcia, Vanessa Hilo, Tiffani Le, Ryan McCormick, Ebram Naftzger, Tiffany Rekem, Leah Shackelford, Matthew Soto, Christian Valdez, Summer Zofrea. Coach: Donna St. George