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2006-2007 Summary
Finishing in eighth place may
be disappointing for some competitors.
However, finishing in eighth place in a national Academic
Decathlon competition is reason to be very proud.
Centennial High School capped
off another tremendous Academic Decathlon year by finishing in that
position at the 2007 United States Academic Decathlon (USAD)
National Finals against 39 other state champions. This was the highest finish ever by any Idaho team in this
most challenging and unique competition.
Sophomore Avalon Owens
led the Patriot team with three individual medals – silvers in Art
and Social Science, and a bronze in Language & Literature.
Other medalists were Xochitl
Watts with a bronze in Interview, Drew
Carlson with a silver in Super Quiz and Evan Walker earned a gold medal in the Essay event.
As the Centennial
team competed in Honolulu, Bishop
Kelly High School was competing, as Idaho’s representative, in
the On-Line competition for smaller schools.
The Knights finished ninth out of 20 teams.
Margaret Debelius
earned a bronze medal in the Music event.
This past
competition year began with invitational meets in Bonners Ferry,
Meridian, Shoshone and Arco in early December.
These were followed in late January with regional meets in
Sandpoint, Boise, Jerome and Montpelier.
Our state competition was held at Bishop Kelly High School
and all testing was done with all students taking the test in one
room – the gymnasium. This
was the first time Idaho had set up testing in this form and it was
a great success. The entire decathlon program is thankful to Bishop Kelly High
School and its coach, Marta
Watson, for their hard work in hosting this big event.
This year the
Idaho Academic Decathlon had 27 participating teams with Sugar-Salem
and Meridian High Schools rejoining the program.
In addition, Hidden Springs Charter School, the Idaho Arts Charter School, and Richfield
High School joined the program.
We anticipate additional growth during the coming year.
The theme this
past year was “China and
its Influence on the World” and was a most popular topic of
study. This coming year
the decathletes across Idaho and the Nation will be tested in many
ways on “The Civil War” which will be of great interest to the students.
On Saturdays, May
5th and May 12th, Academic Pentathlon meets
for middle school students were held in Meridian and in Sandpoint,
respectively. Once
again, we have received notices that there will be another increase
in the number of schools participating next year.
This program is slowly growing as schools realize that the
pentathlon is a great resource program in preparing students for the
ISAT, the exam most students must pass in order to graduate from
high school. With the
pentathlon and the decathlon, the students receive preparation, not
only for the ISAT but, for other standardized tests such as PSAT,
ACT and SAT.
The next two
years bring about two special anniversaries for the decathlon
program. The first is
the 40th
anniversary of the Academic Decathlon program during this
2007-2008 competition year. It
began in 1968 in Orange County, California and went statewide in
1972. In 1982, the United
State Academic Decathlon was born and held it first National
competition at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
The National Finals for the coming year will be back in Los
Angeles for this anniversary year.
The following
year, 2008-2009,
represents the 25th
anniversary of the Academic
Decathlon in Idaho. Already,
plans are being developed for a year-long celebration topped off
with our Awards Banquet. The winning team will then represent Idaho at the USAD
Nationals in Memphis, Tennessee in April, 2009.
As we move into
this new year of AD, I extend best wishes for great success to all
decathletes and to all coaches.
Thank you for your hard and dedicated work.
Jerry Helgeson - Executive Director
Summer, 2007
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