Acadeca at State [FINAL]

The Academic Decathlon (Acadeca) team finished 4th out of 50 teams at the LA County Qualifying Tournament in February, and qualified to compete at the AcaDeca State Championships for the first time in over two decades. The state competition will be held on Mar. 16 and 17 in Sacramento. As usual, the competition will be a two day competition on the main theme, The Great Depression, and a wide variety of other topics. Acadeca has just over a month from the Regionals to the State to prepare for their competition. On day one of the State Championships, the students will deliver a speech, write an essay on Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, and be interviewed by the Acadeca judges. Day two consists of tests on the following subjects: math, science, economics, literature, art, music, and history. At the end of these rigorous two days, the team members took home 9 individual medals in 5 different events. The team's top performer, Lynn Huang, won 4 medals, including a gold medal for her essay, a silver medal in science, and a silver medal in math. Jason Wang earned a gold medal in science, Sue Wang won a silver medal in science, Emily Liu won a bronze medal in music, Candice Yip a bronze medal in music, and Matthew Shum a bronze medal in speech.

Arcadia's team consists of nine students, seniors Matthew Shum, Shirley Zhou, Candice Yip, Jason Wang, and Courtney Nguyen, junior Sue Wang, and sophomore Steven Xia, along with Team Captains Emily Liu and Lynn Huang, both of whom are seniors. “Although Arcadia teams have been successful in the past, this team qualified for State because each member made a significant contribution. Each member of the team won at least one medal, and even when a student did not [earn a] medal, he or she may have finished in the top 15 and earned significant points for the team,” said adviser Mr. Albert Sylvia. “This was one of the closest tournaments in history, with very few points separating the 3rd place team from the 9th place team.” With that being said, Acadeca still came out 4th and qualified for state, something that hasn’t happened for over 20 years. “I really can't say how happy and proud I am of our team for getting the chance to go to State,” said senior Candice Yip.

“The experience of presenting a speech or carrying a conversation with strangers is useful beyond competitions,” said senior Courtney Nguyen. ”AcaDeca pushes its decathletes to expand their perspective of the world and get out of their comfort zone. Rather than specializing in one area, a decathlete ought to be consistent and well-rounded.” This year, Acadeca [members] has been at their top game, taking 4th at Regionals and now competing in State; everyone on the team has been working hard and it is truly showing. However, after this year, seven of their members will be graduating and they are in need of new bright minds. “The whole team is like my family. Through the hours and agony of studying we share, we become closer,” said senior Candice Yip. So if you are interested in joining Acadeca next year, don’t be afraid to try out.