The Academic Decathlon team participated in the District Level Tournaments that began in September and ended on December 18.

“The competition only takes a portion of Academic Decathlon, so this last 1 was just focusing on music and social studies,” said club advisor Paul Verbanszky.

This music category was a new topic for competitors, but according to junior Maddie House, it didn’t give the students too much trouble. “I think it went pretty well,” said House.

In fact, the club did better on the music section than on the Social Studies section. Much about the theme, 1960’s America, is not taught in school before junior year, so most students participating were new to the content covered in the competition. “Students who have not taken American history or non-seniors did not perform as well as we hoped,” said Verbanszky.

The members prepared for the competition using a study packet from the start of the year that outlined what they needed to learn for the tournament. “[From] that point forward, we do student-led presentations, discussions, activities handouts and whatever it takes, like Kahoots,” said Verbanszky.

In order to improve, team members will need to take more time going over the study materials provided.”We do presentations but people don’t read the packet as much as they should,” said sophomore Carmen Horenstein.

Verbanszky hopes that the group as a whole will be well-prepared for the regional tournament this January.