American Canyon HS Academic Decathlon Team Advances To State

AMERICAN CANYON, CA — The Academic Decathlon team from American Canyon High School finished in third place at this year's North Bay Region Academic Decathlon, held Saturday at Solano Community College in Fairfield. The students are now preparing to compete in the California Decathlon March 27-28 in Sacramento.

"Not everyone was able to medal individually this year," Gonzalez said. "Not only did my students need to beat the other team members for a top-three finish, they also had to win against each other."

The team from American Canyon represented Napa County in the competition among 15 teams —and 250 students — from high schools in Napa, Solano, Sonoma, Yolo, Lake and Mendocino counties.

An Academic Decathlon team is comprised of two or three Honor students (GPA of 3.75 - 4.0), two or three Scholastic students (GPA of 3.0 to 3.74) and two or three Varsity students (GPA below 3.0). The North Bay Regional Academic Decathlon —NBRAD — allows all members to compete, although only the top two overall scoring members from each category are considered for the group score.

Like an Olympics decathlon, an Academic Decathlon consists of 10 events. Rather than physical strength, academic decathletes must flex their muscles of the mind in Art, Music, Language and Literature, Mathematics, Economics, Social Science and Science.

There are also Communications contests that involve writing an essay, delivering a prepared speech and an impromptu speech, and being interviewed.

The final competition is the Super Quiz, an event that showcases decathletes' knowledge in seven of the 10 subjects.

All the tests this year were related to the theme,"In Sickness And In Health."

ACHS Math teacher and Academic Decathlon Coach Alma Gonzalez said the team has consistently finished in the top five since the school began participating in the regional competition five years ago — making it a Division 1 competitor alongside Casa Grande and Petaluma high schools, MIT Academy, Upper Lake High School, Vanden High School and Willits High School.

Academic Decathlon is not an American Canyon High School course; it's a club that since early August has been meeting after school for two hours a day, four days a week.

This year's ACHS team is comprised of six Honors students, four Scholastic and one Varsity. While the school has its largest academic decathlon team to date, ACHS still went into Saturday's final regional competition at what could have been a disadvantage.

"We competed [Saturday] with an incomplete team; we only have one varsity and not the minimum two needed to be considered a full team," Gonzalez said.

"Going in, I was confident of a top-five finish," Gonzalez said. "Without the second Varsity — about a minimum of a 3,000-point loss toward the potential group score—I wasn't sure we could place in the top three again this year. Our region welcomed two more counties to participate this year, Lake and Mendocino, and I wasn't sure how we would compare against them."

American Canyon ended up winning 30 individual-subject medals — the largest number yet — of which they scored five medals for having the top-scoring decathletes for each category and grade level.

The team also took second place in the Super Quiz.

"When they gave Casa Grande the third-place win (3,220 points), I was certain that meant we wouldn't place top three," Gonzalez said. "It's really hard to place in the top three overall if you don't place in the top three in Super Quiz. Then, they announced that two teams tied for second place. Both Willits and American Canyon placed second (3,430 points), and Vanden placed first (4,200 points)."

Overall Team Scores

— In First Place with 44,643 points: Vanden High School of Travis Unified School District, advancing to state representing Solano County

— In Second Place with 40,051 points: Willits High School of Willits Unified School District; advancing to state representing Mendocino County

— In Third Place with 38,288 points*: American Canyon High School from Napa Valley Unified Unified, advancing to state competition representing Napa County (*Slightly higher score last year with with a full team.)

— In Fourth Place with 36,638 points: Casa Grande High School from Petaluma City Schools District, advancing to state representing Sonoma County

— In Fifth Place with 34,480 points: Rodriguez High School of Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District

— In Sixth Place with 32,169 points: Upper Lake High School of Upper Lake Unified School District, advancing to state representing Lake County

— Advancing to state representing Yolo County: Davis Senior High School, 28,088 points, of Davis Joint USD

American Canyon High School Individual Medals

Honors Level (3.75-4.0 GPA)

• Angelie Bautista, junior: Bronze medal, third-place team
• Kyla Cansino, sophomore: Bronze medal, Interview; Bronze medal, third-place team
• Riley Furey, senior: Silver medal, Super Quiz; Bronze medal, third-place team
• Gabriel Llave, sophomore: Silver medal, Economics; Bronze medal, Literature; Bronze medal, Music; Gold medal, Science; Silver medal, Social Science; Gold medal, 10th-grade Honors (also third-highest scoring Honors student in entire competition and third-highest scoring decathlete overall); Silver medal, Super Quiz; Bronze medal, third-place team
• Priya Sharma, sophomore: Bronze medal, third-place team
• Colin Velicaria, junior: Gold medal, Art; Gold medal, Economics; Gold medal, Language and Literature; Silver medal, Math; Gold medal, Music; Silver medal, Science; Silver medal, Social Science; Gold medal, 10th-grade Honors; Gold medal, highest-scoring Honors student; Silver medal, Super Quiz; Bronze medal, third-place team

Scholastic Level (3.0-3.74 GPA)

• Jennacess Carreon, junior: Bronze medal, Interview; Bronze medal, Language and Literature; Bronze medal, Speech; Bronze medal, 11th-grade Scholastic; Silver medal, Super Quiz; Bronze medal, third-place team
• MaeLing Hayes, sophomore: Bronze medal, Art; Silver medal, Super Quiz; Bronze medal, third-place team
• Bareera Khurram, sophomore: Silver medal, Art; Bronze medal, Language and Literature; Bronze medal, Social Science; Gold medal, 10th-grade Scholastic; Silver medal, Super Quiz; Bronze medal, third-place team
• Heriberto Zavala: Silver medal, Speech; Bronze medal, third-place team

Varsity Level (GPA up to 2.99)

• Teo Gascon, junior: Bronze medal, Art; Silver medal, Music; Gold medal, Science; Silver medal, Social Science; Gold medal, 11th-grade Varsity; Bronze medal, third-highest scoring Varsity; Silver medal, Super Quiz; Bronze medal, third-place team

In total, American Canyon brought home 48 medals.

"I'm super proud of the improvement they've done this year," Gonzalez said. "Two years ago, we competed with just one Varsity and we placed fifth overall. The only subject we didn't medal in this year was Essay. We will definitely work on that."

Grateful For The Support

Gonzalez thanked those who've contributed to the success of the team by recommending students; helping with interviews and speeches (Ms. Campoy, Ms. Vu, Allison Roeh, Elaine Roeh and Major Leon Garcia); providing expertise and time in any of the 10 subjects; proctoring either the essay portion (Mrs. Goff) or the seven-subject tests (Ms. Vu and Ms. Hawkins); or by attending the competition (thanks Mr. Eick).

Another way of supporting the team can be monetary, Gonzalez said. The state championship is expensive, and the American Canyon teams needs another $2,500 to get there, she said.

Gonzalez expressed her gratitude to Travis Credit Union for making donations of $250-$500 to each of the North Bay Region teams to help them with registration and other costs associated with advancing to the state competition.