Schools

Dixon High Students Earn 22 Medals in North Bay Region Academic Decathlon

The students of DHS' Academic Decathlon Club have 22 reasons to be proud

Some athletes excel on the gridiron, court or in the swimming pool. But for the students who are members of the school’s Academic Decathlon Club, glory is earned by hitting the books.

This past Saturday, 17 students did just that as they competed against schools throughout Solano, Yolo, Sonoma and Napa counties during the North Bay Region’s Academic Decathlon held at Rodriguez High School.

Last year, Dixon’s students walked away from the academic competition with two medals. This year, club members won 22 medals in 10 events including: art, language and literature, mathematics, economics, social science, science and music. In addition, the students competed in a speech competition, and interview and essay portions of the competition.

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“It was really exciting because last year we sat through the really, really long awards ceremony and it was exciting when we got the two medals,” said DHS Computer Technology teacher Michael Vlach, who co-coaches the club along with DHS History teacher Janette Sundstedt. “It was just really exciting that we had all but one category that we medaled in.”

“It was really thrilling to get to see them,” she said. “This was so huge and great and to see the kids just be successful and be so proud Mindy especially, she was just so thrilled she got called up many times. It’s great to see them.”

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The Mindy whom Sundstedt refers to is Mindy Adams, 17, a junior at Dixon High who won two gold medals, one for art and the other for music, and two silver medals in economics and the essay that she wrote.

“It felt really good,” Adams said. “I was actually really surprised because I didn’t think I did that good. I don’t really do any clubs or sports so I don’t really bring home trophies or medals.”

Adams, who plans to study environmental science after graduating from DHS, said winning at the decathlon would look good on her college application. She said she plans to continue doing the club during her senior year.

Last year 16-year-old Isabella Choe, a junior at DHS, won one of two medals for Dixon during the academic decathlon. This year, Choe took home six medals, four silver medals in economics, language and literature, physics (science) and interview, and two gold medals in speech and math.

“I was really surprised,” Choe said. I did not expect it at all. I felt OK going into some of the tests, but I didn’t think I would actually win any medals. The hardest part of the competition is the speech and interview portion.”

Vlach and Sundstedt’s strategy this year was to get the study materials early to the club. It was a grant from Dixon Community Education Foundation, Vlach said, that allowed them to purchase study materials for each club member, as opposed to sharing one study binder between all the members last year.

Last year, the club began meeting in November. This year, the club began spending their lunch hours, once a week, studying for the decathlon in September.

This year’s decathlon theme was based on imperialism – specifically European and Asian expansion – said Ken Scarberry, executive director of California Academic Decathlon. The decathlon is put on by the Solano County Office of Education. The students were made to read and study Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” for the competition.

Right after DHS students returned from winter break Choe, Adams and the rest of the club members wrote an essay, which is the first portion of the competition. A week before Saturday’s testing, the students did the speech and interview portions of the decathlon. Saturday was dedicated to testing.

Teams are comprised of nine members, three students apiece from Honors (grade-point average of 3.75 or above), Scholastic (3.0 to 3.75 grade point average) and Varsity (below 3.0) levels. Dixon had 17 members go to the competition, nine team members and eight alternates.

In all, Dixon was up against 10 schools from throughout the region, Vlach said.

“With Dixon what’s been really exciting, both their coaches, their heart has been as big as the competition,” Scarberry said. “This is I believe their second year as a team. It takes a while to gain momentum on campus. They did a great job. For a new and up-and-coming school to take home 22 medals it’s a really good year. With that kind of potential and momentum, Dixon can come right back and do even better.”

Scarberry said that the competition awarded 300 medals during this year’s competition. The top scoring school is invited to the state Academic Decathlon. This year, it was Vanden High School in Vacaville qualified to compete at the state level, Scarberry said.

For the students who participate in the decathlon, the benefits are a boon for those who seek college after high school. Winning a medal is great to put on a college application, Vlach said, and more importantly, studying for the decathlon reinforces some of the things that are being taught in the classrooms.

Vlach said another reason why the students did so well this year is because they had one more year of instruction at Dixon High.

“A lot of the kids that did this last year, they have just gone through another year of school so they have picked up some of the stuff along the way just in their general classes,” Vlach said. “Taking another year of math would just help them to do better on the math in general.”

Here is a list of DHS’ 2012 Academic Decathlon Team and the medals winners during Saturday’s Academic Decathlon:

Isabella Choe

Scholastic level, silver medals in Economics, Language and Literature, Interview, Physics; gold medals in math and speech.

Melinda Adams

Varsity level, silver medals in economics and essay; gold medals in art and music.

Alex Gonzalez

Scholastic level, silver medal in math.

Nate Anderson

Scholastic level, gold medal in interview

TJ Kennedy

Honors level, medals in essay and language and literature

Abigail Robinson

Scholastic level, bronze medal in economics

Channing Ko-Madden

Honors level, medals in economics, science and music

Will Staiger

Honors level, silver medals in math and interview

Erich Baur

Honors level, medals in music and interview.


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