Academic Decathlon, also known as AcDec, had its fall scrimmage this year on Nov. 13 at Penns Valley High School.
AcDec is a club that focuses on one topic every year and breaks it down into subjects. This year’s topic is the Roaring 20’s and the book focused on this time period is “The Great Gatsby”.
“I really like this year’s theme!” said junior captain, Morgan Hood. “The 1920’s have always been one of my favorite decades to learn about! I like learning about the culture changes that happened! Additionally, I like learning about how certain events that happened in this time period would eventually lead to the Great Depression.”
The team scored second place against other high schools like South Williamsport, Carlisle and Bellefonte.
“I felt really great, as it was my first time ever winning any medals. Although, I do kind of wish that I had won a medal in Literature, as I was mostly studying the Literature Cram Kit on the bus ride to the meet,” said Hood.
Hood, in the scholastic division, had won bronze in both social studies and in overall scores.
Other people that had won medals were junior Catherine Hittle, sophomores Zion Brown and Angelina Rockey and senior captain Reese Peterson.
“I felt mostly prepared, but there were still things I was nervous about,” said freshman member Reagan Greene. “I missed a few practices, so I wasn’t sure about some art and social science stuff, but studying on the bus helped me prepare more.”
Hittle, in the honors division, won gold in her essay and bronze in literaure. Peterson, in the varsity division, won gold in his essay, silver in literature and bronze in social studies. Brown, in the scholastic division, had won gold in art. Additionally, Rockey, in the scholastic division, had won bronze in literature.
“I definitely only felt prepared in literature since I read the book the whole way through the night before and then the cram kit on the bus,” said Hittle, “I felt mildly confident in social studies and had zero confidence in my art abilities! I definitely think I need to do more broad studying instead of specific studying for the upcoming scrimmage in January.”
AcDec has another scrimmage on Jan. 15 at South Williamsport. While the first scrimmage had focused on art, literature, social science and an essay, the second will focus on music, economics, math, and science, according to club adviser Mr. Mitchell Hart.
“I think Reese is doing an incredible job keeping people invested, and there’s really nothing much he can do aside from go into our brains and make us care about the subject,” said Hittle. “I do, however, think that maybe we could [do] some more competitive team scrimmage things with flash cards like maybe Jeopardy. I think that would help keep the energy up and encourage people to study before meetings,” said Hittle.
The AcDec team meets up after school almost every Tuesday and Thursday to study their content. This year has contained the most members in the club, having over twenty people overall. People are still able to join before the next scrimmage by asking Hart.
“I do believe that we should still be studying the materials as hard as we were for our first meet, as the grind never stops!” said Hood.
Featured image (at top): The AcDec team poses for its photo from the fall scrimmage. Within this image there are several stuffed animals and mascots that the team had brought to the event, like the club’s official mascot, Jenny, and two llama stuffed animals, being held by junior Morgan Hood and sophomore Nadia Farenish. Photo taken by Alex Martyniuk
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