El Dorado, Montwood and Americas high schools took top honors at the 2021-2022 regional Academic Decathlon competition during the spring semester.
“Our students worked hard and put in hours of practice in order to take a winning spot in the region,” said SISD Advanced Academics coordinator Stephanie Carrasco. “With dedication from both students and coaches, our teams overcame difficult situations to become region champions.”
Academic Decathlon brings students of all achievement levels together to form a team where each student on the team is challenged in seven curricular content areas focused on a central theme. The theme for the regional contest was Water: A Most Essential Resource.
This wide variety of college-level materials allows students to showcase their learning and build confidence through their studies.
The students typically travel to compete at the state competition but this year, due to COVID-19 restrictions, they were able to compete virtually and received state recognition.
“We're very proud of all our Ram decathletes,” said Richard Helming, campus coordinator at Montwood High School. “They worked very hard to soak up as much of this year's content as possible and broaden themselves as scholars.”
Mayeli Robles, a senior at El Dorado High School, said her only regret was having not participated in Academic Decathlon sooner.
"The days leading up to competition in AcaDec were extremely exciting and challenging, however I think all challenges put against us resulted in our group becoming stronger and closer,” Robles said.
Paula Woods is the campus coordinator for Academic Decathlon at El Dorado.
“AcaDec is one of the best academic activities students can participate in,” Woods said. “I am so proud of my scholars for their competition results but more importantly, I so admire their love for and commitment to their competition.”
From the ten subjects in the competition each student is given seven multiple choice tests, a speech section which is done live, a timed written essay and an interview section which ultimately totals the teams’ final score.
2021-2022 Academic Decathlon SISD winners:
Medium Division
3rd Place - El Dorado High School
Ana Becerra
Kadisha Kontente
Mark Tomlinson
Mayeli Robles
Mercedes Quinn
Ruby Merola
Vivian Ramirez
Campus Coordinator: Paula Woods
Large Division
2nd Place - Montwood High School
Armozel Martinez
Brendan Dunlop
Diego Banuelos
Isai Gonzalez
Jenna Hernandez
Michael Esparza
Michael Tubbs
Raven Alvarado
Campus Coordinator: Richard Helmling
3rd Place - Americas High School
Micaela Aguilar
Jennal Contreras
Diego Estrada Adame
Dylan Grabski
Matthew J. Hassoun
Stacie Moreno
Millie Penaloza
Michelle Perea
Mia Villegas
Campus Coordinator: Virginia Gardea
Published August 15, 2022
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