On January 28th and February 4th, students of Cypress High will clash their knowledge against other Orange County high schools in a fiery, academic battle. The first day of 2011 Orange County Academic Decathlon started its first day of competition on January 28th at Tustin High School.
The United States Academic Decathlon (USAD) is an annual, national academic competition consisting of seven multiple choice tests, two performance events, and an essay. There are in total ten subjects that students can medal on: Language and Literature, Economics, Science, History, Mathematics, Art, Music, Speech, Interview and Essay. In addition, Science and History take turn becoming the subject of Super Quiz, a relay event that occurs on the last day of competition. Medals awarded range from 1st place to 5th place, with a team medal also given on the Super Quiz Relay. The decathlon teams are split up into Honors, (3.75-4.00 GPA), Scholastic, (3.00-3.74 GPA), and Varsity (0.00-2.99 GPA).
The first day of competition on January 28th was comprised of two performance events, speech and interview, with the essay at the end. Each decathlete went into a room and recited a long speech plus an impromptu speech in-front of three judges, given four minutes for the long one and two minutes for the impromptu. The same went for interview, except there was no time limit as the judges asked many questions revolving around the student’s introduction in the beginning of the interview. Essay was held in the school’s cafeteria with all other competitors, given three topics to write one essay in fifty minutes. The topics involved around this year’s Language and Literature Resources and Super Quiz (History).
Cypress decathletes have studied for this competition since the summer of 2011, spending over three hours each week. During vacations and breaks, they devoted much of their time studying together and holding meetings. Unlike other schools who have academic decathlon as a class and a club, Cypress’s Academic Decathlon only exists as a club. Decathlon President Salley Park commented on this issue, “Although we would be able to study more together if decathlon was a class, our members still utilize their time well enough to study independently.”
On the other hand, the next and final day of competition is scheduled to be on February 4th, with all the seven multiple choice tests plus the Super Quiz Relay taken that day. Cypress Decathlon advisor, Dean Delgado, left a hopeful remark, “I hope that all my decathlon members win a medal this year.”
