NISD continues winning tradition in Academic Decathlon
NISD Communications Department
February 1, 2008
When it comes to Academic Decathlon, Northside ISD is a powerhouse.
The Academic Decathlon teams from Holmes/Business Careers, O'Connor, and Warren high schools have all advanced to state-level competition thanks to stellar performances at the regional competition in January.
Northside Academic Decathlon teams swept first, second, and third place in the Team Super Quiz, Super Quiz Relay, and Overall Team categories. Jay High School also placed third in the Super Quiz Relay.
All three teams, which have established a winning tradition in Academic Decathlon, attribute their success to hard work and teamwork.
"We study before and after school, during lunch, on weekends, always," said Nicole King, Warren's Scholastic captain.
"Students are self-motivated and willing to study," added O'Connor Coach Pamela Hummel. "They gave up two days of their Thanksgiving break, two days of their Christmas break, and had a lock-in the weekend before the competition to study."
And of course, "it's because we have great coaches," said Travis Kirtland, a senior at Holmes, whose coaches include Adriano Gonzalez, Vilma Lang, Sherrie Linsteadt, and Juliana Sanchez. "We study hard and we have a team that supports each other."
The teams from both O'Connor and Holmes are considered to be among the top 10 in the state this year.
Academic Decathlon, founded in 1968, is designed to challenge high school students with rigorous academic competition through participation in team activities. The competition consists of events in 10 different areas: essay, speech, interview, math, music, economics, science, language and literature, art, and super quiz.
What makes Academic Decathlon unique is the composition of the teams. Each nine-member team must have three "A" students, three "B" students, and three "C" students.
At Northside, students use songs, acronyms, flash cards, games, posters, and various other creative study tools to help them learn and memorize data in the 10 subject areas.
"Academic Decathlon has taught me how to study for specific information, which will help me immensely in college," said Terence Gelo, a member of the O'Connor team. "It shows students a variety of ways to learn and allows us to find out how we learn best."
"The benefits for students are life-long," said Terry Zablocki, co-coach of the Warren team with Jane Nicholson. "The speech and interview events grant practice in skills that will serve them for the rest of their life."
Members of all three teams have already hit the books to prepare for the state competition, which will be held Feb. 29 - March 2 at Plano Senior High School. The top 40 teams in the state will compete.
The specifics of their preparation? "That is top secret!" said Business Careers team member Victor Castano.
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