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Area Students Compete In Academic Decathlon
sjcoe

High school students from 14 schools in San Joaquin County took part in the 42nd Annual Academic Decathlon, held by the San Joaquin County Office of Education (SJCOE) over the past few weeks, culminating with the final event on Feb. 4.

The competition began with the online essay event on Jan. 18, with online essays and objective testing. The competition’s objective testing events continued virtually on Jan. 24 through 26, where competitors showcased their knowledge of art, economics, literature, mathematics, music, science, and social science. On Feb. 4, the teams took part in the Super Quiz competition and awards ceremony at Lathrop High School. Each year, all the decathlon events are tied together with a single theme. This year, the theme was The American Revolution.

Escalon High School had a team in the competition; results for the academic Cougars participating will be included in next week’s issue of The Times.

Schools can field multiple teams, but only one Division I team can compete from each school. Each nine-member team consists of three students in each of three categories based on grade point average: Honors (3.75 – 4.0+), Scholastic (3.0 – 3.74), and Varsity (0.0 – 2.99).

Competing schools at the Saturday event were Escalon, Kimball, Lathrop, Manteca, McNair, Middle College, Tracy, Merrill F. West, Millennium, Mountain House, Stagg, Weston Ranch and Sierra high schools, in addition to Stockton Early College Academy.

Top overall teams received medals and plaques.

The Top Overall School was Middle College High School, Lodi Unified School District. Middle College received the Dave Sorgent Winner’s Cup and will compete in the State Academic Decathlon Championship.

Second place overall: Tracy High School, Tracy Unified School District.

Third place overall: Stockton Early College Academy, Stockton Unified School District.

Overall top-scoring student was John Mathews, Middle College High School, Lodi Unified School District, who received the $1,000 Walter Rathhaus Award, provided by Self-Help Federal Credit Union and the SJCOE Educational Foundation.

Top-three Super Quiz teams each received individual medals and a team plaque. First place, Middle College High School; second place, shared, Stockton Early College Academy and Tracy High School; third place, Mountain House High School, Lammersville Unified School District.

University of the Pacific awarded two renewable $5,000 scholarships to two decathletes who have met the university requirements and have shown a strong desire to attend the university: John Mathews, Middle College High School, Lodi Unified School District; and LiJuan Barnes, McNair High School, Lodi Unified School District.