2015-2016 WHS Academic Decathlon brings home 18 medals from January Regional
Warrior team finishes 5th place in State (of 13 "small school" competitors)
Launch the media gallery 1 playerAcademic Decathlon and India: They're all the raj!
WHS AcaDeca students have been studying all aspects of India (the 2015-2016 assigned topic) since the beginning of the school year, in preparation for the yearly regionals, where students compete with other AcaDeca teams from around the country.
The 2016 Nebraska Academic Decathlon Regional Competition was held on Saturday, January 16 on the campus of Midland University in Fremont, NE. Individually, the Warriors brought home an impressive 18 medals!
Congratulations to the following AcaDeca members who earned individual medals at this year's Regional:
Regular Team:
Sam Brabec (Honors)
• Wahoo's Overall Top Scorer
• BRONZE Language & Literature
• BRONZE Art
Caleb Groff (Honors)
• SILVER Mathematics
Caitlyn Moore (Scholastic)
• SILVER Mathematics
Tyler Timm (Scholastic)
• GOLD Economics
• GOLD Language & Literature
• BRONZE Art
• BRONZE Science
Colton June (Varsity)
• BRONZE Mathematics
Alternate Team:
Shawn Knowlton (Alt. Honors)
• GOLD Language & Literature
• SILVER Mathematics
• BRONZE Science
Cody Hayworth (Alt. Scholastic)
• SILVER Language & Literature
Tate Peterson (Alt. Scholastic)
• GOLD Economics
• GOLD Language & Literature
• SILVER Science
• BRONZE Art
As a team, Wahoo finished in 5th place out of 13 schools in the "small school" category across the state. Unfortunately, only the top four teams will advance to the State Finals in February at Creighton University, so Wahoo fell a little short of that goal this year (Wahoo has qualified for State for four of the past six years, and finished State in 3rd place last year). Despite the disappointment, the students studied hard, and performed very well against some very tough competition.
Prior to this regional competition, students competed in two practice scrimmages: one on Saturday, November 14, 2015 at Daniel Gross High School in Bellevue, and on Saturday, December 6, 2015 at Pius X High School in Lincoln.
Congratulations to the following AcaDeca members who earned medals at these competitions:
Gross High School:
• Sam Brabec: 2nd place Language & Literature (Honors)
• Calab Groff: 2nd place Mathematics (Honors Novice)
• Caleb Groff & Cheyenne Moore: TIE 2nd place Language & Literature (Honors Novice)
• Caleb Groff: Wahoo's Top Scorer
• Super Quiz Team: 3rd place
Pius X High School:
• Matt Dobesh & Shawn Knowlton: Wahoo's Top Scorers
• Tyler Timm: 2nd place Economics, 3rd place Science (Scholastic)
• Caleb Groff: 3rd place Science (Honors Novice)
Award winners from the Dec. 6 scrimmage at Pius X, from left:
Matt Dobesh, Tyler Timm, Shawn Knowlton, and Caleb Groff.
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.
Warrior AcaDeca students who competed at the Nov. 14 scrimmage at Gross High School.
The 2015-2016 Academic Decathlon topic of study is India. Students are spending the year studying the following:
• SCIENCE: The science topic is an introduction to ecology and includes case studies and examples relevant to India.
• LANGUAGE & LITERATURE: The literature curriculum includes critical reading, one long work of literature, and selected shorter works. The long work of literature is Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya.
• ART: The art curriculum includes a section on art fundamentals and largely focuses on the art and architecture of India.
• MUSIC: The music curriculum includes basic elements of music theory and focuses on the music of India.
• SOCIAL SCIENCE: The social science curriculum covers the history of modern India.
• ECONOMICS: The economics curriculum covers fundamental economic concepts, microeconomics, and macroeconomics. The economics curriculum also includes a thematic section on the Indian economy
• MATHEMATICS: The mathematics curriculum covers permutations and combinations, algebra, and statistics.
• SUPER QUIZ: The super quiz focus is the social studies curriculum.
Now that Regionals are completed, Wahoo AcaDeca students will spend the remainder of the semester studying the fundamentals of Art, Music and Economics, which are consistent areas of study every year in the national Academic Decathlon curriculum. Warriors will also compete in the annual Econ Challenge, sponsored by the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, quiz bowl competitions, and they will spend some time on ACT test prep. In March, the 2016-2017 AcaDeca topic will be announced, and students will begin preparing for next year's competition.
Congratulations Warrior AcaDeca on another successful year!