By Julia Nguyen
Last Monday, FVHS Academic Decathlon won first place in the Super Quiz for the first time in four years. The team also carried home the trophy for second place in their overall division.
“It was super freakin’ awesome!” said Ms. Reed, the Academic Decathlon Coordinator. “The kids were running down the aisle to get the award.”
FVHS decatheletes went against 500 other decathaletes from around the county in a three-day competition. There are more decatheletes in this county than all the other states in America.
“The competition itself is tedious with about six hours of testing, each test consisting of about fifty questions,” explained Beverly Pham (’14). “In the end, though, it’s all worth it when you have a big smile on your face and medals on your neck for the effort and teamwork you put in.”
The first competition day was on Saturday which included speeches, interviews, and essays. The second day consisted of a test and the super quiz.
A super quiz competition pits teams of 3 decathletes from varsity, scholastic, and then honors categories, respectively. The teams must then answer questions in 7 seconds on any of the 10 topics to get the most points.
“While some questions are in-depth, many of the questions are also about the little details, so you really need to be prepared in order to do well,” said Adrien Ha (’13).
“To me it’s like a ‘you know it or you don’t’ kind of thing,” added Robin Nguyen (’15). “For the majority of the questions, I didn’t know the answer and had to make an educated guess.”
The third day was the award ceremony, where FVHS Academic Decathlon brought home first place in the Super Quiz and second place overall in their division, along with 27 individual medals.
“Being a decathelete is a lot like being in a sport…you work hard and then you bring medals home when you win,” said Sharon Tran (’15). “Being in Academic Decathlon, we become a family and we all struggle together in competitions.”
Said Tran, “I love Academic Decathlon and I hope more people join next year.”
