On Friday, Jan. 30, Academic Decathlon team members drove to Carlisle High School to compete in the District competition against all seven schools in the region for a spot at the state competition in Hershey.
Students took tests on all of their studied subjects including math, science, social science, literature, mu-
sic, economics, and art in addition to writing an essay on a topic, delivering a written speech, and getting interviewed by volunteers.
“This meet [had] been pretty highly anticipated by our team. It takes a lot of hard work and preparation… and I’m very proud of the team’s performance,” said senior Academic Decathlon captain Reese Peterson.
The team placed third overall, and will be attending the state competition on March 13-15.
“It was a good [District competition]. My favorite part was after the speech and interview because I just felt this pressure that was lifted off and I could enjoy the rest of the night,”said junior Morgan Hood.
Hood received her first gold medal in the music category at Districts, along with bronze medals in literature and math. In order to study effectively, she used Blooket and highlighted the reference material.
Peterson thinks that the best way for the group to study going forward in State practices is more group work.
“We need everybody to do their part in preparing for the next competition,” Peterson said.
At districts, Peterson received silver medals in essay writing and social science, bronze medals in music and art, and gold medals in economics, speech, and overall score.
“My favorite part of Districts was the speech. I love public speaking,” said Peterson.
Peterson received a 995 in the speech category, an almost perfect score and the highest speech score that anyone in Montoursville Academic Decathlon has ever received. His speech was about the 1814 Congress of Vienna, which he said was a very interesting topic for him to speak about.
In addition to the nine competing members representing Montoursville at the State competition, sophomore Nadia Farenish will be attending as an individual competitor.
“I’m very happy and proud of myself. That was my first time winning medals apart from last year’s state competition,” said Farenish.
Farenish received a bronze medal in music and a silver medal in math. Her approach to studying is relatively the same as Hood’s.
“Usually I’ll take the subjects that I need or want to focus on and then I’ll go through and highlight the stuff I think will be the most important,” Farenish said.
She said that for the state competition she will be focusing mostly on things like science and economics that the group struggles with as a whole.
“I’m looking forward to spending time with this smaller group [at the state competition],” Hood said.
Since the competition is two days, the team is driving out on Thursday, March 12 and staying in a hotel before the written testing on Friday, March 13.
“I’m looking forward to studying hard,” Farenish said about States practices.
Peterson, Farenish, and Hood are also all looking forward to watching people get awards and hopefully get awards themselves.
“This whole year I’ve been very encouraging because I want everyone to have the best resumes for college as possible- and having lots of awards helps that,” Peterson said. “This is a great group, and I’m very excited to see where everyone goes.”
Recognition of Students Who Received Medals:
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Essay Reese Peterson – Silver Abel Conahan – Bronze Music Reese Peterson – Bronze Rylee Tillema – Bronze Zion Brown – Bronze Morgan Hood – Gold Nadia Farenish- Bronze Carter Reeder- Silver Art Reese Peterson – Bronze Nadia Farenish – Bronze Izabella Weaver – Bronze Literature Morgan Hood – Bronze Catherine Hittle – Bronze Math Sadie Hall – Silver Morgan Hood – Bronze Nadia Farenish – Silver Social Science Reese Peterson – Silver Abel Conahan – Bronze Economics Reese Peterson- Gold Zion Brown – Bronze Abel Conahan – Bronze Elias Rodriguez – Silver Science Zion Brown – Gold Alexis Zimmerman-West – Bronze Speech Reese Peterson – Gold Ruby Watts – Bronze Catherine Hittle – Gold Interview Reagan Greene- Bronze Carter Reeder – Gold Overall Score Reese Peterson – Gold |
Featured Photo (at top): The Academic Decathlon team crowds around senior captain Reese Peterson as he holds the team mascot, Jenny, in victory after the team won third place overall at the District competition and advanced to the state level. The District competition took place at Carlisle High School and consisted of 10 competitive events that students from 7 schools participated in. Photo by Academic Decathlon adviser Mr. Mitch Hart
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