Here I am trying to rewrite hours of work. You better be grateful. This entry is for the freshmen and noob sophomores that aren't quite sure about what they signed up for.
Here's a basic description of what the competition is (as taken from the USAD site):
"The Academic Decathlon® is a ten-event scholastic competition for teams of high school students. Each high school enters a team of nine students: 3 "A" or Honor students, 3 "B" or Scholastic students, and 3 "C" or Varsity students. The theme for the 2009–2010 Academic Decathlon season is 'The Great Depression.'"
These ten events are:
-Language & Literature
-Mathematics
-Music
-Art
-Economics
-Social Science
-Superquiz (written and oral relay)
-Interview
-Speech (prepared and impromptu)
-Essay
(See more info about the first six events here.)
Our school will send 2 teams: red and gold. We are only allowing students who participated in Academic Decathlon last year to be able to be starters. Everyone else who is taking AcaDec will also compete, but in the alternates division.
Alternates participate in the eight of the events. They do not do the interview, oral relay, or the speeches.
The competiton:
Day One: Starters have to give their speeches, interview, and write their timed essay on this day. Alternates will write their timed essays later on in the week at their school sites (I think, that's what we did last year). Alternates do not have to come on day one, but I strongly encourage that they do. By coming along, you get a better idea of what to expect when you compete later on. It's also great to be there for the team! A less hysteric person supporting a starter by doing last minute speech rehearsals, reminding him or her of the the proper interview etiquette, and waiting with them outside the rooms was giga-helpful last year.
Day Two: The whole team has to be there. Most of the day will be spent taking multiple choice tests on the material we slaved over in Art, Music, Economics, Social Science, Mathematics, Language & Literature, and the Superquiz (this is the written part). Don't worry, we snack breaks after every 2-3 tests.
After the tests, we head to the auditorium where the the starters will participate in the oral relay. There's a waiting period for the scores and points to be calculated before the awards ceremony begins. Starters who medaled first in Speech and Essay will give their speech or read their essay to the auditorium. Alternates are given medals in first through fifth place and starters are given medals in first through third. The top alternates and starters in each division are recognized and scholarships are awarded. At the end, the team awards and handed out. The last award is the cup (which Lodi High has been winning lately).
Our goals for Academic Decathlon is to win as many medals and awards as we can. There is a small schools division award, which we hope to beat Middle College for this year.
Study materials: New AcaDecians (or Decathletes, whatever) should drop by during the AcaDec Summer Boot Camp for borrow a copy of the Basic Guides to then take to Kinko's so you can have your own to study from. USAD already has materials for sale on the website, so we'll probably order those and recieve them this summer (I shouldn't be making any promises when I don't control the school budget, but Mr. Hall probably will buy them). DemiDec hasn't posted any materials lately, and won't until August. I'm still in the process of scheduling the dates of the summer program. As soon as I know, you will also.
If you have any questions, e-mail me at neon.garnet@gmail.com.
Ciao.
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