After tirelessly studying, quizzing, and reviewing material for hours after school, the Academic Decathlon team competed in the United States Academic Decathlon (USAD) for Los Angeles County. The AcaDeca Knights were able to earn an impressive number of 35 medals and a trophy, which they were awarded at a formal banquet following the decathlon.

The Decathlon was a regional two-day event, running from January 26th and February 3rd. It took place at El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera. A total of 59 high schools from around Los Angeles County competed.

The first day of the competition focused on the topics of Interview, Speech, and Essay. Among these events, competitors were required to compose essays on pre-selected topics, and perform speeches for judges in classrooms. The second day of the competition covered the remaining bulk of the subjects, which included math, science, history, music, economics, art, and language & literature. Competitors would be required to take consecutive quizzes of 50 questions in 35 minutes.

“For the competition, we tried really, really hard this year,” shared Hai Chou, the president of Academic Decathlon, 11. “We stayed at school everyday, from Monday to Thursday from 3 to 5 studying the material.”

The AcaDeca team began diligently preparing for the competition as soon as September.

“Being in Academic Decathlon requires you to have the skill of time management since it is very demanding of your time. But I think it is really rewarding because you get to spend time with people and learn more about things that you don’t normally learn in class,” says Chou.

Each Academic Decathlon team is composed of nine members. Arroyo also has a junior team composed of three members. The ability to have a junior team is a huge achievement, considering the club hardly had enough members for a main team last year. Their advisor is Mr. Snow Lu, physics teacher.

In addition to their growth in members, the team greatly improved their performance in comparison to last year. This year, each member was able to win at least two medals. This contrasts greatly with last year’s results, in which only two people earned medals. Hai Chou performed extremely well, earning a total of eight medals: three bronze, three silver, two gold, and a scholarship from the USAD. Another member, Mia Cabrera earned three medals: one gold and two silvers.

“[Academic Decathlon] is pretty inclusive. It’s kind of like a social club…. but you’re all really participating in this one team that allows you to be more successful because you know everyone, and that basically allows you to establish close relationships with them. You can find their weaknesses and strengths and succeed as a team,” says Neo Marin, 11.

“We got trophies and we have a lot of bragging rights now,” says Cabrera, 10.