Individual and team winners of the 20th Annual Sacramento County Academic Decathlon—held February 5 at California State University, Sacramento—have been announced by Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools Dr. David P. Meaney. The competitors were honored at the Academic Decathlon Awards Banquet, presented February 9 by the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) at Sacramento's Doubletree Hotel. KOVR Channel 13 weather anchor Dave Bender served as master of ceremonies.
About the Academic Decathlon
Each school's team, comprised of three Honors ("A" average) students, three Scholastic ("B" average) students, and three Varsity ("C" average) students, competed February 5th in the 20th Annual Sacramento County Academic Decathlon. Modeling their efforts after the Olympic Decathlon, students vied for top individual and team scores in 10 events: Mathematics, Music, Language/Literature, Economics, Social Science, Art, Essay and Speech. The top-scoring team—Bella Vista High School—now advances to the California competition, to be held March 17-19 in Los Angeles.
The Sacramento County Academic Decathlon, an all-day event, represented months of study and preparation by approximately 150 students and their teacher-coaches. Culminating the event was the Super Quiz, in which each team competed head-to-head against the others in answering tough questions on this year's topic, Sustainable Earth. The overall theme of the year 200 Academic Decathlon is Looking Forward: Creating the Future. Winners of state competitions advance to the national finals April 13-16 in San Antonio, Texas.
The purpose of the Academic Decathlon is to promote learning and academic excellence through teamwork among students of all achievement levels. Information about the U.S. Academic Decathlon is available by writing to USAD, 10881 Kyle Street, Los Alamitos, CA 90720.
The Sacramento County Academic Decathlon is conducted each year by staff and volunteers of the Sacramento County Office of Education. Academic Decathlon director is Dr. Niel Malvetti, Director of Training, Development and Research for the Sacramento County Office of Education. More than 100 community members and educators volunteer their time each year as Academic Decathlon proctors, judges and scorekeepers. Persons interested in volunteering for next year's Academic Decathlon may contact Relda Yeoman, (916) 228-2222.