Bella Vista High School, from the San Juan Unified School District, is the winner of the 2019 Sacramento County Academic Decathlon competition. The team now advances to the State Finals, which will be held March 22–23 in Sacramento. California’s winning team advances to the U.S. Academic Decathlon April 25–27 in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Folsom High School (Folsom Cordova USD) finished second in this year’s county competition and Pleasant Grove High School (Elk Grove USD) placed third.
Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools David W. Gordon announced individual and team winners of the 39th annual competition (held February 2 at Folsom High School) at an awards ceremony last night. The Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) honored top scorers at the Citrus Heights Community Center where Kevin Riggs, Randall Communications Senior Vice President, was the emcee.
SAFE Credit Union provided $10,000 in scholarships, which were distributed among top-scoring students. SAFE CEO David Roughton and Community and Advocacy Engagement Manager Amanda Merz were on hand to congratulate all participants.
Hundreds of Sacramento County high school students—along with students from Placer County—competed in this year’s County Academic Decathlon. Twenty-nine teams participated, including three from Placer County, and four from Butte County. The Placer and Butte County teams competed amongst themselves and were scored separately.
During a break in the competition, Butte County teachers received school supplies from “Helping Teachers, Helping Students.” The effort—conducted by Sacramento-area school districts, nonprofits, cities, businesses, and citizens—conducts an annual classroom supply drive. Local teachers who would normally have received the supplies donated them to support their Butte County colleagues.
To prepare for the Decathlon, students devoted months of study to the 2019 theme (The 1960s: A Transformational Decade). Students competed for awards in 10 demanding categories: economics, art, science, social science, language/literature, mathematics, music, essay, interview, and speech. Questions at the Super Quiz, held in front of hundreds of cheering fans, were posed by KTXL Fox 40 morning host Paul Robins.
Each Decathlon team is comprised of nine high school students—three with “A” grade averages, three with “B” averages, and three with “C” averages—who compete against those with the same grade point average. Coaches are local high school teachers. Decathletes not only improve their academic achievement, they learn about teamwork, goal-setting, planning, and leadership.
The Sacramento County Academic Decathlon is coordinated by SCOE staff and community volunteers. For additional information, call Craig Irish: (916) 228-2660.
Photos and Multimedia
- Team photo gallery
- Super Quiz photo gallery
- Awards Banquet photo gallery
- Awards Banquet video (YouTube)
Rankings and Results
Top-Scoring Teams
- 1st Place: Bella Vista High School (San Juan Unified)
- 2nd Place: Folsom High School (Folsom Cordova Unified)
- 3rd Place: Pleasant Grove High School (Elk Grove Unified)
- 4th Place: Mira Loma High School (San Juan Unified)
- 5th Place: Christian Brothers High School (Diocese of Sacramento)
Schools Placing Highest in the Super Quiz
- 1st Place: Bella Vista (San Juan Unified)
- 2nd Place: Folsom High School (Folsom Cordova Unified)
- 3rd Place: New Technology High School (Sacramento City Unified)
Most Improved
- Christian Brothers High School (Diocese of Sacramento)—based on overall improvement
Team Results
- List of overall team results and top-scoring team members
- Decathlon champions: winning teams 1979–present
Encore Presentation
The Sacramento Educational Cable Consortium (SECC) will re-broadcast the Academic Decathlon Super Quiz on Comcast Channel 16 and Consolidated Communications Channel 22:
- Tuesday, February 26, 2019 at 7 p.m.
- Thursday, February 28, 2019 at noon
- Saturday, March 2, 2019 at 7 a.m.
- Tuesday, March 5, 2019 at 7 p.m.
- Thursday, March 7, 2019 at 12 p.m.
- Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 7 a.m.