Decathlon Sprint Begins for Academic Teams

The pressure is on for Moorpark High School’s “acadeca” team members, who are trying to extend to a second year the school’s reign as national Academic Decathlon champions.

And today is the first step--Round 1 of Ventura County’s Academic Decathlon competition. More than 200 students from 16 schools will compete at Oxnard High School in what has become the nation’s premier academic contest.

“What the team did last year showed us that winning is a real possibility,” Moorpark High team member Russell Glenn, 17, said Friday during an all-day practice. “I’m pumped up. We definitely have a shot.”

Moorpark High won the national title last April when it beat teams from 38 other states, including its leading rival from Texas.

Moorpark team members face stiff competition--Simi Valley High beat them during a scrimmage in November. And the two schools have traded the county title for the past seven years.

“We know they’re strong, but we’re strong too,” said Simi Valley team captain Michael Truex, 17, who has been on the team for three years. “Our schools have only been a few hundred points apart. And in acadeca, that’s nothing.”

Twenty-four teams are vying for the title of county winner and for a chance to compete in the statewide contest in Los Angeles in March.

“We have the most teams ever competing this year,” said Phil Gore, the county’s Academic Decathlon coordinator. “I think there is a lot of enthusiasm because of Moorpark’s incredible success.”

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Since school began in September, decathletes have spent hundreds of hours studying for the competition. They have read and reread Willa Cather’s “My Antonia” and Henrik Ibsen’s “Enemy of the People,” and have become experts on jazz music, ancient civilizations and the environment.

“We have to know so many facts and so much information that it’s just overwhelming sometimes,” said Camarillo High School senior Shawn Demille, 17. “I’m really excited, but I’m sort of nervous.”

Shawn said he believes Camarillo has a good chance of sweeping the Super Quiz--the popular, game-show style event. The topic is the “Sustainable Earth,” and the Camarillo team members are enrolled in an Advanced Placement environmental science class at the high school.

Acadeca students have given up sports, jobs and clubs to study for the event. They have set aside their regular studies. And they have sacrificed nights out with their friends.

But they have gained an inordinate amount of knowledge, and have strengthened their public speaking, interpersonal and study skills. And they have formed strong bonds with their teammates.

Moorpark team captain Tiffany Chou, 17, said late-night study sessions have brought her close to her team members. “I love having the chance to be friends with people that I normally wouldn’t have met,” Tiffany said.

Moorpark students took the school day off Friday and gathered at a team member’s house to cram for the first day of competition. They practiced delivering impromptu speeches to prompts such as “Should gays be allowed in the military?” and “Describe an ideal career.”

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Coach Michelle Bergman said the students are ready to show their stuff. “They’ve worked so hard,” she said. “It’s always nerve-racking, but they are ready to compete.”

Bergman said the success of last year’s team motivates the students. On Friday, one of last year’s team members sent a bouquet of balloons and the first official good luck charm--a stuffed gorilla.

Across the county, Camarillo students gathered in their high school library to rehearse speeches. After sophomore Jonathan Skinner delivered his speech about ignorance, his coach gave him a few tips.

“Be comfortable,” coach Susan Kipp said. “Start talking to us. Start feeling it. Don’t just read the speech in your head.”

Each team is made up of nine students--three with an A average, three B students and three C students.

During today’s competition, the students will deliver prepared and impromptu speeches, participate in interviews and write essays. They will be judged by educators from throughout the county, as well as volunteers from service organizations.

Round 2 of the countywide contest will take place Feb. 5, when the students will take written exams on literature, music, math, social studies, economics and art. The contest ends with the popular Super Quiz.

Ventura County’s winner will be announced Feb. 6 at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. That team will compete in the statewide contest in March, and a win there takes it to the national competition in Texas in April.

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More than one team from Ventura County can advance to the statewide competition as a “wild card” team, if it doesn’t win the county contest but ranks among the highest-scoring teams in the state.

In addition to Moorpark, Simi Valley and Camarillo, the other high school teams competing include Buena, Channel Islands, Fillmore, Hueneme, Newbury Park, Oak Park, Rio Mesa, Oxnard, Royal, Santa Susana, Santa Paula, Thousand Oaks and Ventura.