The Academic Decathlon team competed in the regional competition for the Merced Academic Decathlon on February 7. The team finished as the Top Scoring Medium Sized School in Merced County.
The Academic Decathlon is more than just a competition, it’s a place where students can demonstrate and validate their intellectual abilities. It’s challenging but a rewarding experience. This event tests students character strengths, resilience, and ability to be able to perform under pressure. They are part of a team studying seven subjects including, art, music, literature, economics, science, history, and math.
Mr. Felix Sanchez, math teacher who is in charge of the Academic Decathlon said, “Every year it fits a different theme, and this year’s theme is “The Roaring Twenties”, so all the music and art is from that time period and it usually fits the theme every year.”
The competition includes multiple events like essays, speech, and interviewing on anything you would like, to see how students are professionally and how well they are at public speaking and more.
The competition holds dedication, discipline, and collaborative spirit. Sanchez said, “This year I started with fifteen students and now ended with ten because students don’t stick with it.”
Going into the decathlon students all use different strategies because of their different backgrounds and some have done pentathlon so they used some of those strategies from a different competition. Sanchez lets the students do their own studying to prepare, but he also has open pride times for them, specifically on Thursdays and Fridays.
Not only do students get rewarded sometimes with food, in the competition there are scholarships. The highest scoring student gets a five hundred dollar scholarship, second and third highest both get two hundred fifty dollars each. Sanchez said, “So if you do decathlon every four years you get at least five hundred to a thousand dollars.”
Decathlon is time consuming and students should be prepared for everything that is going to be thrown at you. Sanchez said, “Be prepared and know what you’re getting into, it’s not something you can just say you’ll study later, you have to actually put time into it.”
As they prepare for the challenges ahead, they will learn the value of teamwork and gain more knowledge.
Below is the entire team and the awards students earned to further distinguish themselves:
Honors Team:
- Fredy Artiga Hernandez (10)
- $250 Scholarship
- Eisha Eve Balaba (10)
- Vivian Le (11)
Scholastic Team:
- Max Menefee (9)
- Top Scoring Student on Team – $500 Scholarship
- Gold Medal in Economics
- Gold Medal in Science
- Gold Medal in Social Science
- Silver Medal in Literature
- Juan Real (10)
- Siena Halloran (9)
Varsity Team:
- Rachel Betschart (9)
- $250 Scholarship
- Gold Medal in Interview (Perfect Score)
- Gold Medal in Literature
- Gold Medal in Speech
- Silver Medal in Music
- Silver Medal in Science
- Bronze Medal in Social Science
- Bronze Medal in Essay
- Isaac Lopez (10)
- Julian Felix (10)
If anyone is interested in the Academic Decathlon team, see Mr. Sanchez in room T-9.
