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WHS Academic Decathlon Students Qualify for State in First Year!

Warriors Place 3rd at District Meet; Talbott, Nicholls & Urban Medal at State Meet

February 19, 2012

POST-STATE UPDATE: Congratulations WHS Academic Decathlon team: 2011 Nebraska Rookie Team of the Year. Congratulations also to the following members for their awards at the 2012 State Meet, held February 17-18 at Creighton University in Omaha: Alex Talbott (Top Scorer), Parker Nicholls (3rd Place in Essay Competition-Varsity Division), and Brent Urban (3rd Place in Mathematics Competition-Scholastic Division).

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The first-year WHS Academic Decathlon team is State-Bound!

Congratulations to this year’s new AcaDeca team for earning third place at the District meet on Saturday, January 21, at Midland University in Fremont!

In addition to earning individual scholarships for their District finish, the team has also qualified for the State Meet, which will be held February 17-18 at Creighton University in Omaha!

Since August, this new group has been studying the national Academic Decathlon curriculum, which focuses on a different theme every year. This year’s theme was The Age of Empire (Imperialism). The District competition tested students’ knowledge of this theme as it pertained to the following academic areas: Art, Economics, Language & Literature, Mathematics, Music, Science and Social Studies.

In addition to the overall third place team finish, the following students earned individual medals:

Alex Talbott (honors): Wahoo's top scorer.

Frances Blackwell (varsity): 2nd place Mathematics, 2nd place Art, 2nd place Science (tie), 3rd place Language & Literature.

Ronnie Brust (alternate): 2nd place Music.

Paris Mood (scholastic): 1st place Music, 2nd place Science, 3rd place Language & Literature, 3rd place Mathematics.

Parker Nicholls (varsity): 2nd place Language & Literature, 2nd place Science (tie).

Dalton Rademaker (scholastic): 3rd place Music, 3rd place Economics.

Brent Urban (alternate): 1st place Science, 3rd place Language & Literature, 3rd place Mathematics.

The team also earned a third place finish in the Super Quiz (social studies) competition, missing second place by only one point!

“I was very pleased with their overall performance,” commented Academic Decathlon Co-Sponsor David Privett. “This curriculum is very challenging, and all time currently devoted to this is outside of school hours, so qualifying for State is a great accomplishment!”

Wahoo High School will offer “Academic Decathlon” as a regular elective course, starting in the 2012-2013 school year. The course will be taught by Privett and WHS Language Arts Instructor Andrea Mann, also a current AcaDeca co-sponsor.

“Most of our competition consists of schools with established Academic Decathlon classes. Having a class of our own will make us even more competitive next year,” Privett added.

In addition to being tested over the seven academic areas listed earlier, students will be busy preparing for the three additional areas of competition at the State Meet: an essay, a speech, and an interview . . . making ten events total, hence the name “decathlon.”

Congratulations Warrior Academic Decathlon team, and good luck at State!