FHS students finish third in Academic Decathlon

Think “Fallbrook Warriors” and sports comes to mind, yet there are nine Warriors whose triumphs challenge the brain rather than the body. Robert Chodola, Mary David, Patric DeBoer, Megan Haugh, Gabe Hribik, Tony Jercinovich, Meghan Logue, Nancy Monaghan, and Matt Witzel represent the nine-member Fallbrook High School California Academic Decathlon Team who, on Saturday, February 5, took third place overall in county competition.

Over 500 high schools in 42 counties and districts participate in the California Academic Decathlon. Each nine-member team must include three A students, three B students, and three C or below students. The Academic Decathlon season involves four rounds of competition.

Round one, a non-scoring scrimmage, was held in November. Round two, the district and county competitions, took place February 5. Winners of round two, plus a limited number of invited teams, will compete in round three at the California Academic Decathlon State Finals March 10 through 13 in Los Angeles. This year, Southwest High School in the Sweetwater Union High School District won round two in San Diego County and moves on to round three. The State Champion will then represent California in round four at the United States Academic Decathlon Nationals held in late April. The California State Champion came in first or second every year at nationals but one since the competition went nationwide in 1982. The Academic Decathlon started in Orange County in 1968 and soon spread within California.

To compete, academic decathletes take 30-minute multiple choice tests in the subjects of economics, art, music, language and literature, mathematics, science, and social science. In addition, each team member gives a planned four-minute speech and a two-minute impromptu speech, sits through a seven-minute interview, and has 50 minutes to write an essay. Finally, each member competes in the Super Quiz Oral Relay, which deals with either the science or social science topic.

Teams compete in three individual categories determined by grade average. Honors category members must have a 3.75 to 4.00 point grade average, Scholastic category members’ averages must be 3.00-3.74, and Varsity category members, below 2.99.

The Warriors took first place in Essay, second place in Interviews, second place in Language and Literature, second place in Speech, third place in Art and fourth place in Super Quiz. Individual awards, similar to the Olympics medals, in the Honors category went to Mary David, Speech, gold, and gold overall; Robert Chodola, Art, bronze; Tony Jercinovich, Essay, bronze; Mary David, Interview, bronze; Tony Jercinovich, Math, bronze, and bronze overall. Individual awards in the Scholastic category went to Matt Witzel, Essay, gold and silver essay overall; Nancy Monaghan, Essay, bronze; Nancy Monaghan, Interview, silver and bronze interview overall; Gabe Hribik, Math, bronze; Gabe Hribik, Speech, gold; Nancy Monaghan, silver. Varsity category individual awards were earned by Meghan Logue, overall, third place; Megan Haugh, Essay, gold; Patric DeBoer, Essay, bronze; Megan Haugh, Language and Literature, silver; Meghan Logue, Language and Literature, bronze and Patric DeBoer, Super Quiz, bronze.