The Academic Decathlon Team (Acadeca) took home the County Championship title in their Regional Competition on January 28, competing with 17 other teams in their division. They got first in the county, second in the region, and first in the “Super Quiz” category. This was the 13th year in a row that they won the County Title.

In Acadeca, there are 10 different subjects. 7 of them are objective and 3 of them are subjective. The team has been meeting since August, creating presentations based on each section of the packet. They learn the materials and help each other prepare for regionals in January.

The categories include art, economics, social science, math, music, literature, and science. There is also speech, interview, essay, and super quiz.

The program is open to any Campo student. Junior and decathlete Nina Damiano said, “Any student can come from any GPA Level, learn a bunch of material for a specific theme and then make a speech and do an interview. I do Acadeca because I got to meet a bunch of new people. It is run by a very nice teacher, [Paul] Verbansky, and it is just very fun and helps you grow.”

The theme for this year’s competition is “The American Revolution and the Founding of our Nation,” meaning all of the different categories, except for math, thematically relate back to this point in history. The team competes against each other and the various teams in their district.

Beyond just academics, Academic Decathlon has provided a space for students of different grades to bond and build meaningful connections.

Decathlete senior Liesel Hilkemeyer said, “I joined my freshman year because my cousin was a part of it and I heard it was a lot of fun. I met Verbansky and I met the people in it, and it was really enjoyable. My favorite part is the Sunday Meetings. The community is by far the best part.”

Acadeca co-captain senior Kaya Lu said, “My favorite part of the competition was probably all the team bonding we got to do, hanging out in our formal clothes, and spending time together as a team, which is something we haven’t been able to do these last few years because of COVID, so it is really nice to start having in-person competitions again.”