The Academic Decathlon is a club that has multiple branches across the school district. The branch at Aliso Niguel is run by the captains, Alanni Roger (12), Harsh Kashyap (12), Tulika Chandra (12), and Hannah Suydam (12). As this new semester begins, they have competitions lined up that they are preparing for.
Rogers says, “There is a speech and interview competition on Jan. 24. So there are three events: you do an interview, which is five minutes long, you do a prepared speech, which is three and a half to four minutes long. Then you do an impromptu speech, so you don’t prepare for that, and they give you three prompts to choose from, and then you just talk for a minute and 30 seconds to two minutes.”
Rogers goes on to say, “On Jan. 14, we have our essay competition that we do at the school. You write an essay, and they give you three prompts. It’s usually about the book, which is ‘The Great Gatsby’ this year.”
“Then, on Jan. 31, we have objective testing, so you take seven multiple-choice tests. It’s math, economics, english, art history, social science, science and music. Then we have the super quiz which our team picks a couple of people to compete against other teams to see who can answer the questions fastest.”
While the Academic Decathlon sounds overwhelming when students hear about all the things that they have to do, Rogers says that students learn a lot of skill which extend beyond the curriculum.
Rogers knows that they prepare a lot for the competitions, saying, “We usually focus on a different part of the activity each practice. One day, we will do speeches, we’ll do impromptu and prepared. Then another day we’ll maybe work on english, taking english practice tests.”
“We take a lot of practice tests for each subject, and we always like to try to present in front of our team to get people comfortable with public speaking.” Says Rogers.
Their competitions typically take place at local high schools, with their upcoming competitions taking place at Tustin High School and Westminster High School.
Rogers says, “One of the biggest things we say is if you can do the objective testing, which is the seven multiple-choice tests, then taking the SAT is a breeze. It really prepares you, because testing fatigue is a huge thing when you are taking a really long test like the SAT, ACT and AP tests.”
Rogers emphasizes that the Academic Decathlon will help you with stamina when taking the tests that the majority of high school students inevitably end up taking.
Ms. Terhardt, a history teacher at Aliso, and Ms. Lee, a math and computer science teacher at Aliso, are the teachers who help run the Academic Decathlon.
Ms. Terhardt sees improvement in the team as the competition dates get closer, saying, “Their kind of focus and intentionality has improved, and so they’re using our practice time wisely. They’re also using their study time more wisely so that they feel ready and they feel more confident. In regard to just their experience and relationships as the years gone on, they’ve become better friends.”
The Academic Decathlon team is working tirelessly to prepare for their upcoming competitions and looks forward to continuing a great year together.
