Nearly a dozen teams from high schools throughout Riverside County will compete in the 43rd annual Academic Decathlon beginning this week, seeking to gain points in multiple subjects for a chance at representing the county in the statewide contest.
The 10-part event gets underway with a virtual competition on Wednesday, culminating in an in-person “Super Quiz” on Jan. 31.
The county Office of Education said this year’s theme is The Roaring Twenties, highlighting the many and varied movements spawned during the 1920s, including the suffragettes and Prohibition, as well as profiling historic milestones such as the stock market craze, which collapsed into an unprecedented economic Depression across the nation.
“Critical thinking, public speaking, writing skills and learning from history are among the many valuable skills strengthened within every student who participates in Academic Decathlon,” county Superintendent of Schools Edwin Gomez said. “Collective commitment and collaboration on shared goals not only represent essential college and career readiness traits, but offer lifelong benefits for every future endeavor.”
The decathlon entails essays, speeches, videotaped interviews and related presentations over multiple days. Teams from nine campuses are entered for this year’s contest. Each teams consists of nine students with grade point averages ranging from low to honor roll.
The Super Quiz is the only event slated to be open to the public. It’s set for 1 p.m. on Jan. 31 at the Office of Education Administration Building, Conference Center, 4280 Brockton Ave. in Riverside.
The quiz tests teams’ ability to coordinate responses to themed questions. Each team will be required to amass points based on completion of projects in art, economics, literature, math, science and social science, officials said.
This year’s teams hail from Beaumont High School, Canyon Springs High School in the Moreno Valley Unified School District, Corona High School, Great Oak High School in the Temecula Valley Unified School District, Heritage High School in the Perris Union High School District, Lake Elsinore High School, Valley View and Vista Del Lago high schools in the Moreno Valley Unified School District and the Western Center Academy in the Hemet Unified School District.
Last year’s championship team was from Western Center Academy.
The California Academic Decathlon is slated for March 19-22 in Santa Clara, and the U.S. Academic Decathlon is scheduled for April 23-25 in Garden Grove.