By Justin Hsieh, News Editor
FVHS is home to a wide variety of clubs, including a diverse group of competitive academic clubs. For students looking to find the right one to join, here is an overview of each competitive academic club’s purpose, goals and outlook for a new season of competition.
Academic Decathlon
For students interested in a variety of academic skills, Academic Decathlon may be the jack-of-all trades club they’re looking for.
Academic Decathlon is an academic club that competes in ten subjects for a given topic. These subjects include ‘objective’ categories, where students will be tested on art, economics, literature, math, music, science and social science, as well as the ‘subjective’ categories where students compete to deliver speeches, write essays and be interviewed by a panel of judges.
This year, the theme for Academic Decathlon teams around the country is “In Sickness and in Health: An Exploration of Illness and Wellness.” The FVHS Academic Decathlon team will spend their meetings studying human health and mortality in ten different subjects to prepare for their main competition at the end of January.
“Most of the time at meetings we are studying,” said Academic Decathlon President senior Shelly Chin. “We are going through slideshows that we made during the summer or recently, and we do review games to remember the information that we learned so that we can compete. We also have a snack calendar for our members; every meeting one or two members will bring in snacks to share.”
At the competition in January, Academic Decathlon members will compete individually in all ten events over two days (one day for subjective categories, one day for objective categories). Their scores will be aggregated into a team score, which will determine whether they advance to the state competition.
“I think we’ll do well in competition this year, but we still need more members in our team,” said Chin. “Our most important team is team one, which consists of our top nine students in three GPA categories. Right now we’re kind of lacking on varsity members, who are members with below a 2.99 GPA.”
To potential varsity members as well as interested students of any GPA, Chin stresses the value of their team environment.
“When I first joined, I was very on the fence,” said Chin. “I thought about quitting a lot. I spent three months without talking to a single member, and I knew no one in the club. But as time went on, I really started to like studying, I started to like the subject we were studying, and I started to like the people that I met in the club, and I think it was one of the best high school experiences for me. So hopefully other students can find it a great high school experience for them too.”
Academic Decathlon meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays in room B1 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. They can be found on Instagram @fvacadec or reached at fvacadec@gmail.com.
Computer Science Club
For students interested in computers, robots or programming, Computer Science Club is the perfect place.
“Our goal is to give a space for those who are interested in the discipline [of computer science],” said Computer Science Club President junior Eric Pham. “We allow for students of all backgrounds to participate and join in a fun learning environment where they can pick up skills that have applications in every field all over the world.”
Computer Science Club competes in two primary competitions. The first is CyberPatriots, a cybersecurity competition in which students are tasked with fixing security flaws in a computer operating system.
“For CyberPatriots, we are about to begin our third year,” said Pham. “Last year we did great, and we are hoping to match or exceed last year’s performance, where we reached the highest division and made it to the state round. This year we are hoping to make it past the state round and advance into the semi finals.”
The second competition is the First Robotics Competition, in which students build and program a robot that they bring to competition and operate to complete given tasks.
“For robotics, we unfortunately haven’t been able to secure as much funding as we’d like and we cannot afford to compete much,” said Pham. “However, given our circumstances, we have done amazing to construct our own robot and program it.”
This year, Pham’s main goal is to recruit more members for the club. He encourages interested students to visit the club and see for themselves if they like it.
“We have a lot of opportunities for those who are interested, and there’s always something fun and interesting,” said Pham. “For those who have even have a slight interest, I recommend that you stop by for just one meeting to get a feel for the environment and check out all the things we have. We have a lot of opportunities for competitions and it wouldn’t hurt to come check us out!”
Computer Science Club meets on Mondays at lunch in room 117.
Future Business Leaders of America
For students interested in the world of business, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) offers an opportunity to learn more and put their skills to the test in competition.
“At our meetings, we’ll usually pick a topic for the meeting – such as marketing, for example – and then we’ll give a presentation about marketing and we’ll ask some questions,” said FBLA President senior Madison Grogan. “There might be a team building project, where you have to figure out how to market a really undesirable product, and then we cool mini competitions to see who has the best marketing campaign. And we do different themes every month.”
In addition to learning about different aspects of business, students in FBLA compete at an annual business competition in February. The competition includes events ranging from website design, business presentation and computer programming to business ethics and broadcast journalism. Grogan says one of her goals for this year is to introduce members to some of these lesser known categories to broaden their understanding of business.
“I want to get people interested in lesser known fields of business, because a lot of people think they can only go into marketing or graphic design,” said Grogan. “There are a lot of other components and I want people to get confident in all the categories and not just economics. I want them to know about other things. They don’t have to compete in those things, but it’s important to know for example how to speak in public, because I think that’s useful in any career path.”
Grogan believes that if she is able to broaden members’ view of business and increase the club’s membership base, they will have a solid chance in competition.
“We usually have a significant number of people medaling or placing,” said Grogan. “I would say that usually have over half of our people that compete do end up placing in the top ten for their category, so I hope this year we’ll keep that statistic up.”
To students who aren’t sure if FBLA is right for them, Grogan encourages them to explore the club and see what options it offers.
“If you’re interested in business even the slightest, if you’re interested in programming, IT, anything that you think is going to have a career for you in the future, you should definitely join,” said Grogan. “The worst that’s going to happen is that you’re going to learn more about business. And that’s useful in any career. So join it, have that learning experience, and go from there.”
FBLA meets every other Monday at lunch in room 220. The first meeting was on September 16. They can be found on Instagram @fblafvhs.
eSports
Students who love video games may find their home in eSports, a growing program entering its third year at FVHS and its first year as a club.
“To someone who’s never heard of eSports, I would compare it to a sports league, but for electronic games – video games, computer games, console games – basically games on any electronic device,” said eSports member senior John Pham. “Here at Fountain Valley, we only have three games so far competitively: Overwatch, League of Legends, and Super Smash.”
Like a traditional sports team, eSports has competition seasons during which it plays against other teams in the same region. FVHS eSports competes as part of the North America Scholastic eSports Federation (NASEF), a competitive league which hosts an Overwatch season in the fall and winter and a League of Legends season in the spring.
“[Competitions are] once per week,” said Pham. “Overwatch league hasn’t started yet so we don’t know the schedule, but it’s typically every Wednesday after school. The thing about NASEF – there is a requirement to prevent any cheating, where we have to meet inside a classroom at school so it’s supervised.”
Last year, both the FVHS Overwatch and League of Legends teams made it to playoffs, with the League of Legends team placing in the top five in the preliminary round.
“I say our team plays fairly well in the league,” said Pham. “We have new members, we have people constantly trying to get better, so we’ll do pretty well.”
Pham’s two main goals for the club this year are to create a more objective system for putting players together on the roster to create better teams and to add more games to the FVHS eSports team’s repertoire
— including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Rainbow Six Siege. Pham encourages interested students to try out and experiment with the competitive atmosphere.
“My favorite thing about eSports is the competitive spirit, the friendly environment — being able to play with friends, being able to compete with friends,” said Pham. “Having those two together is what I really love most about eSports. [To interested students] I would say come try out, see how you like the club, see how you like the dynamic of the environment, and just have an overall fun time.”
eSports meets on Wednesdays at lunch in room 233. They can be found on Instagram @fvhsesports.
Math Olympiad
Students who love mathematics will find their home in Math Olympiad, a club dedicated to working together to learn and solve math problems in competition.
Math Olympiad participates in a variety of competitions that involve solving math problems, including the American Mathematics Competition (AMC 10/12), the Math Day at the Beach event hosted by California State University, Long Beach and the annual OCC Math Meet competition. Members compete individually at these competitions and their scores are summed to create a team score for school scoring. Members work together at meetings to practice for these competitions.
“At meetings, we display a problem, have the members do the problems, and then chill a bit,” said Math Olympiad President junior Peter Sun. “Then I’ll announce everything and then I’ll solve the problem. That’s a week meeting. Then we have a meeting after school to practice more problems and prepare for competitions.”
Although the loss of a key member has given the team some catching up to do for this year’s competitions, Sun believes that with increased membership and a full effort from all members, the FVHS team will stand a chance in competition. To students potentially interested in Math Olympiad, Sun says not to worry about their prior math abilities.
“Some people are really scared that they’re not smart enough,” said Sun. “But really, none of us are smart until we try our best and help each other out. So don’t be afraid to do badly. Our strength here is that we all like math. It’s not like we’re forcing anyone to learn, so we have a team where everyone is interested. So that’s good.”
Math Olympiad meets on Wednesdays in room B8.
Mock Trial
Students who dream of being lawyers in the future or love watching legal shows on television will find the place meant for them in Mock Trial.
“Mock Trial is an academic competition where we get a fictitious court case and we have to go through all of the information, like witness statements, evidence, fact situation, and try to argue a case for either defense or prosecution to prove the defendant guilty or not guilty,” said Mock Trial member senior Siomara Ponce. “We compete against other schools in the county, and we get to play roles like attorneys, bailiffs, clerks and witnesses.”
Mock Trial competes in real courtrooms, and is judged in competition by real attorneys and judges. At meetings, they sort through the information on the case given to them, prepare their arguments for both defense and prosecution, get into character as witnesses and practice presenting arguments and raising objections as attorneys.
“There are four guaranteed rounds of competition that we do, and then we go to the playoffs which are single-elimination,” said Ponce. “Since we tend to win all four of the guaranteed matches, we have a spot in the playoffs. Our season starts in mid November, and that’s when our schedule gets pretty crazy because it’s practice Monday, competition Tuesday, practice Wednesday and competition Thursday. And it’s like that until we lose.”
Last year, the FVHS Mock Trial team placed in the top 16 out of 50 schools competing. In both of the two years prior, they placed in the top eight. Ponce believes that the team will keep improving, and hopes for a second or first place finish this year.
“I think this year we’re pretty strong,” said Ponce. “I’ve always felt like we had a strong team in general; regardless of who’s in it or who’s left or who’s joined we’ve always been a really good team because of our coach and the people who were previously on here. A lot of times we have a lot of returners, but I think this year we have a really good chance because we have a lot of new people that bring some new perspectives. So I’m excited for that, to see what they can bring to the team that we haven’t figured out yet.”
Ponce says that students interested in doing Mock Trial in the future should go for it.
“I honestly would encourage [students] to try out,” said Ponce. “I was on the fence. I actually only joined because of a Good Luck Charlie episode. I almost didn’t join. But I think I made the right decision going to Mock Trial – so just try it, see if you like it. You have nothing to lose, you only gain.”
Mock Trial can be found on Instagram @fvhs_mt.
Model United Nations
Students interested in learning about global politics, international diplomacy and countries around the world owe a visit to Model United Nations (MUN).
“Model United Nations is dedicated to providing the students of FVHS and all around the country with high-level debate and discourse on world issues,” said MUN President senior Jeffrey Carr. “Through extensive looks into global affairs, students are able to gain a greater understanding of the world around them white simultaneously improving their oral and writing skills.”
Students in Model United Nations learn about the United Nations (UN), the international organization of 193 countries dedicated to promoting international peace, protecting human rights, addressing global humanitarian and environmental crises and facilitating sustainable development around the world. Students compete in simulations of the UN called conferences, where they are assigned a country to represent and a global problem to solve beforehand and work with other students at the competition to come up with the best solution to the issue.
“This year our club is looking to attend conferences as frequently as once per month,” said Carr. “We are excited to welcome a new foundation of members with an extensive list of conferences. We will be attending [conferences at] UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, and possibly the National High School Conference in New York.”
In the past two years, Carr says the FVHS MUN team has been strengthened by significant increases in membership. Retaining these members and encouraging them to participate is one of his key goals for the club this year.
“We are optimistic about this upcoming year given the enthusiasm and willingness to participate shown by our new and returning members,” said Carr. “Although a majority of the delegates in the club are at the novice level, the board is confident that we can help prepare everyone to be ready for the next level.”
Carr encourages interested students to attend a meeting or a conference to see if MUN is right for them.
“Even though Model UN can seem like a tough or time consuming challenge, the experiences and memories made from this club through all the hard work is more rewarding than anything you will get out of your high school experience,” said Carr.
MUN meets on Mondays at lunch in room 115. They can be found on Instagram @fvhsmun or reached at fvhsmodelunitednations@gmail.com. Students can also find more information at bit.ly/fvhsmun.
Science Olympiad
For students interested in learning more about science, Science Olympiad offers opportunities to dive into a wide variety of science topics.
Science Olympiad competes at two main competitions in late January and early February, where members prepare for and compete in individual science topics of their choice. These topics include a variety of content-based exam topics, such as anatomy and physiology, as well as building events that involve constructing towers, bridges or vehicles to be tested in competition.
“The events vary,” said Science Olympiad President senior Lauren Nguyen. “There are a lot of different events, so it’s not specifically biology, it’s not specifically chemistry, it’s not specifically physics. And for the content-based events, you don’t need prior knowledge, because every single year they change the topic so most of the time people are studying something they haven’t learned before.”
This year, Nguyen has high hopes for improving the club’s placement in competition.
“Last year we were close to placing,” said Lauren Nguyen. “There was a member who was one spot away, and in another category we were really close too, like two spots away, but we didn’t make it. So we’re going to try to do a lot better this year, so we can get to the invitational, we can get to the regional, and then hopefully advance. Personally, being in the club has taught me a lot about preparation, so I feel pretty confident, and I really hope that I can help the other members do that as well, so we can all succeed as a group.”
Lauren Nguyen says that the best part of Science Olympiad is the team atmosphere.
“I really like the community we have,” said Lauren Nguyen. “Because we are a really small club, we’re close to each other and we’re very comfortable with each other and our advisor too. It’s like being in a team; it feels really nice to collaborate with everyone and all support each other in our events.”
Lauren Nguyen hopes that interested students know that they don’t need extensive prior science knowledge to do well in the club.
“There are many different fields of science,” said Lauren Nguyen. “So it’s not just, ‘oh, DNA, physics, forces whatever’ – what people typically think of. There’s so much more; there’s something for everyone. If you’re interested, we hope that you come into this club really open-minded and ready to learn; you’ll be finding something that interests you, and then [if you’re] willing to study for it and prepare, you have a really good chance of being successful.”
Science Olympiad meets on Thursdays at lunch in room 241. They can be reached through Instagram @fvscioly_ or through their email sciolyfv@gmail.com.
Virtual Enterprise
For students who want to dive into the world of business with hands-on experience, the Virtual Enterprise (VE) ROP may be the perfect opportunity.
“In this class we have hands-on experience to what we want to major in, which is business,” said VE CEO senior Jacqueline Nguyen. “So basically in Virtual Enterprise, you pretend like you’re in a little business, and you go around California and sometimes internationally to do competitions. So we decide what our business is, how it works, how it helps the environment, what are the benefits and costs to it, and we know the realities of how it works.”
At competitions, VE students can compete in categories relating to their business including business plan, booth design, finance and human resources. Nguyen has high expectations for the FVHS VE team’s performance in competition this year.
“I expect some gold-medal, first-place standards, because Fountain Valley’s known to be really good,” said Nguyen. “So hopefully we can keep the bar going higher and higher. Everybody on our team is super capable, we have so much potential it’s exciting.”
To students who might be interested in participating in VE next school year, Nguyen says to apply and see what happens.
“I would say just go for it and see how helpful you can be,” said Nguyen. “Always look out for opportunities that you can take. If you think, ‘oh I can do this but I know this other person seems more qualified than me’ – no. Just do it and put your 100% in it.”
VE can be found on Instagram @fvhsve.
