2014-2015 Warrior Academic Decathlon brings home 3rd place at State!
Brabec/Clark/Rademaker/Ruzicka/Timm/Vanek earn individual medals
Launch the media gallery 1 playerThe Wahoo High School Academic Decathlon team qualified for the 2015 State Competition, which was held Feb. 20-21 at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
CONGRATULATIONS Warriors: 3rd place state-wide as a team in the small school division!
CONGRATULATIONS also to the following students who earned individual medals for their impressive performances:
Zach Clark (Varsity)
1st place Mathematics
2nd place Language & Literature
Dalton Rademaker (Varsity)
1st place Interview
1st place Economics
Tyler Ruzicka (Honors)
Top Scorer
Tyler Timm (Scholastic)
1st place Interview
Alternates:
Sam Brabec (Honors): 3rd place Hard Sciences, 3rd place Soft Sciences
Courtney Vanek (Scholastic): 3rd place Fine Arts, 3rd place Hard Sciences
"I am so proud of our AcaDeca team. They have worked so hard this year to prepare for the State competition, and it was awesome to see their hard work pay off!", commented AcaDeca Coach Nicole Burg. "We left the State Tournament feeling fired up for an even more successful season next year!"
Congratulations Warrior AcaDeca on an impressive season!
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Warrior AcaDeca: 2015 State Qualifiers!
WHS Academic Decathlon brings home 2nd place, 24 medals & scholarships from Jan. 17 regional meet @ Midland U.
CONGRATULATIONS Warrior AcaDeca: 2015 State Qualifiers!
The WHS AcaDeca team represented WHS well at its annual regional competition, which was held on Sat., Jan. 17 at Midland University in Fremont.
Other schools competing at this site were Boone Central, Duchesne Academy, Mead, Mount Michael, Omaha Roncalli, Tekamah-Herman, and West Point Guardian Angels. These schools competed against schools from across Nebraska at multiple regional sites.
When all was said and done, Wahoo left the competition with 24 individual medals, and a 2nd place finish in the Social Studies Super Quiz, behind Mount Michael! As a team, Wahoo finished in 2nd place at the regional competition (earning each student a scholarship!), and 3rd place state-wide from all small schools in Nebraska!
CONGRATULATIONS to the following individual medal winners:
Tyler Ruzicka (Honors):
1st place Music, 2nd place Economics, 2nd place Science, overall top scorer
Rachael Meyer (Honors):
3rd place Language & Literature
Tyler Timm (Scholastic):
3rd place Mathematics
Dalton Rademaker (Varsity):
1st place Economics, 2nd place Mathematics, 2nd place Language & Literature,
3rd place Music, 3rd place Art
Hailey Cunningham (Varsity):
1st place Language & Literature, 3rd place Science
Sam Brabec (Alt. Honors):
2nd place Economics, 2nd place Language & Literature, 2nd place Mathematics
Tate Peterson (Alt. Honors):
3rd Language & Literature, 3rd Science
Zach Clark (Alt. Varsity):
2nd place Economics, 2nd place Language & Literature, 2nd place Mathematics,
2nd place Music, 2nd place Science
Warrior AcaDeca brought home 24 individual medals from the Jan. 18 Regional
competition at Midland University, and took 2nd place in the Super Quiz!
The Warrior AcaDeca students received that state qualifying announcement on Monday morning (Jan. 19), and will now work hard preparing for the State Competition, which will be held on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 20-21 at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. In addition to their usual competition in seven academic areas, at State students also compete in three additional competitions: essay, speech and professional interview.
"We are ecstatic!" commented WHS Academic Decathlon Co-Sponsor David Privett. "Sometimes Wahoo High doesn't get a lot of attention for the academic talents of our students. These students have worked very hard, and they have proven that academically, they are a force, and can compete amongst the best in state, from both public and private schools. I am very proud of this group!"
This is the fourth year that WHS has participated in the National Academic Decathlon, and this is the third year they have qualified for State! Warriors have qualified for State each year except in 2013, where they missed qualifying by a single question against Duchesne. Now they're back in the saddle!
Congratulations again Warrior AcaDeca on a job very well done!
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Alternative energy: we're big fans!
The official 2014-15 WHS AcaDeca t-shirt, designed by Corby Brigham.
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Warrior Academic Decathlon competed in its first scrimmage of the year on Nov. 8 at Pius X High School in Lincoln. In this scrimmage, students competed against other schools in the areas of Art, Language & Literature, and Mathematics.
Congratulations to our medalists at this competition: Tyler Ruzicka (Top Scorer & 3rd place Language & Literature [Honors]) and Hailey Cunningham (3rd place Language & Literature [Varsity])!
Coming very close to medaling were Sam Brabec (4th place Novice Language & Literature) and Corby Brigham (5th place Novice Mathematics).
Warrior seniors Tyler Ruzicka and Hailey Cunningham both brought home Language & Literature medals from the Nov. 8 Academic Decathlon scrimmage at Pius X! Ruzicka medaled in the Honors division, and Cunningham medaled in the Varsity division.
2014-15 WHS Academic Class at the Nov. 8 Pius X scrimmage, front row (from left): Hailey Cunningham, Rachael Meyer, Caitlyn Moore, Sam Brabec, Tucker Hancock, Courtney Vanek, Lydia Privett, and Bryson Keller. Back row: Zach Clark, Dalton Rademaker, Tyler Ruzicka, Cole Peterson, Tyler Timm, Bret Walker, and Corby Brigham. Not pictured: Colin Grandgenett.
The Academic Decathlon is a national, ten-event scholastic competition for teams of high school students. Each high school team consists of six students: two Honors students (“A” GPA), two Scholastic students (“B” GPA), and two Varsity students (“C” or below GPA).
The purpose of the United States Academic Decathlon (USAD) is to develop and provide academic competitions, curriculum, and assessment to promote learning and academic excellence through teamwork among students of all achievement levels.
The 2014-2015 Academic Decathlon topic of study is New Alternatives in Energy: Ingenuity & Innovation. Students are spending the year studying the following:
• SCIENCE: The science topic is an introduction to energy conversion and includes discussion of traditional energy generation as well as nuclear energy and renewable sources of energy.
• LANGUAGE & LITERATURE: The literature curriculum includes critical reading, one long work of literature, eight poems, and one short prose work. The long work of literature will be Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard.
• ART: The art curriculum includes art fundamentals and covers innovations in art from the ancient world through the twentieth century.
• MUSIC: The music curriculum includes basic elements of music theory covers innovations in music from the Middle Ages through the modern era.
• SOCIAL SCIENCE: The social science curriculum covers energy policy, the environment, and the new energy economy.
• ECONOMICS: The economics curriculum covers fundamental economic concepts, microeconomics, and macroeconomics. The economics curriculum also includes a thematic section on the economics of energy.
• MATHEMATICS: The mathematics curriculum covers general mathematics, geometry, and an introduction to differential calculus.
• SUPER QUIZ: The super quiz focus is the social studies curriculum.
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FIELD TRIP! To enhance this year's topic study, the WHS AcaDeca class took a field trip on Nov. 6 to the homes of students Rachael Meyer and Tyler Timm. Both homes are outfitted with alternative energies: solar and geothermal at the Meyer home, and wind turbine technology (pictured above) at the Timm home. Representatives from the companies that installed these technologies were on hand to teach students and answer their questions.
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The second scrimmage was held on Sat., Dec. 6 at Gretna High School, where students competed in the areas of Music, Science and Social Studies. Congratulations to our Warrior medalists: Tyler Ruzicka (Top Scorer, 3rd place Music [Honors]), and Dalton Rademaker (1st place Economics, 2nd place Music [Varsity])!
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Warrior seniors Tyler Ruzicka and Dalton Rademaker both brought home medals from the Dec. 6 Academic Decathlon scrimmage at Gretna High School! Ruzicka was the top scorer and took 3rd place in Honors Music, and Rademaker took 1st place in Varsity Economics and 2nd place in Varsity Music! Warrior AcaDeca is now preparing for its Jan. 17 Regional competition at Midland University.
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These two scrimmages serve as practice for the official regional competition, which will be held at Midland University in Fremont on Jan. 17, 2014. The winning teams at regionals will advance to the Feb. 20-21 State Competition at the University of Nebraska, and the winning school at State goes on to Nationals, which will be held Apr. 16-18 in Garden Grove, CA.
Wahoo High School qualified for the State Competition in 2011 and 2012, and missed qualifying for the 2013 State Meet by a single question (edged out of Duchesne).
Good luck Warrior AcaDeca on another successful year!
TEAM BUILDING:
As a team building exercise, the 2014 WHS Academic Decathlon Class spent the day on Fri., Sept. 26 at the Odyssey Course, A Nebraska 4-H facility located south of Gretna, NE.
From their website: The Odyssey Course is a unique high element challenge course that provides groups an intense teambuilding experience which highlights the objectives of cooperation, trust, communication, and adventure. The Odyssey Course represents the next generation in challenge course design and adventure based programming.
Although Mrs. Burg and Mr. Privett are still recovering, everyone had a great time!
