By Jeehyun Kim
The Mirror
Editor-in-Chief
By Ji Yeong Park
The Mirror Staff
With only a month and a half left to prepare, the team will study vigorously and do their best represent Van Nuys High School in Sacramento.
CAMPUS NEWS
Onwards to Victory
February 13, 2017
CAMPUS NEWS:Van Nuys High School’s AcaDec team represented themselves in the annual city competition and competed against many other schools in the district.
PHOTO BY COURTESY OF JULIAN REYNAGA
Nine members of Van Nuys High School’s Academic Decathlon competed in the annual city competition on Jan. 28. Representing Van Nuys High School, the members competed alongside many other regional schools, including Granada Hills Charter School, which is ranked number one nationally.
Academic Decathlon, also known as AcaDec or AcaDeca, is the only annual high school academic competition organized by the nonprofit United States Academic Decathlon Association (USAD).
The nationwide competition consists of seven multiple choice tests, two performance events, and an essay. Contestants are given one specific subject every year, which their work has to reflect. This year’s subject was World War II.
Seven of the ten events were objective, composed of math, literature, social science, science, economics, art, and music. The remaining three—essay, interview, and impromptu and prepared speech—were subjective, decided strictly on the judges’ decisions.
The competition took place at the Roybal Learning Center in Los Angeles.
Led by Captain Justin Buted and coached by Mr. Jonathan Mitchell, the team seemed to leave a big impression on the judges.
Julian Reynaga, a senior, conducted his interview so well that judges continued it for 20 minutes, passing the recommended time of 7 minutes. Based on his records, Reynaga has a good chance to win a medal.
Senior Madiha Fairooz’s speech and performance received critical acclaim throughout the competition as well. As Captain Buted put it, her speech was “exceptional,” and the team is looking forward to generous points and recognition for her performance.
The competition also included Super Quiz, a lively yet competitive culminating championship event that can be viewed by the general public.
Super Quiz is an engaging, Jeopardy-style event that presses students in each division — Honors, Scholastic, and Varsity — to work together to answer questions on the spot.
The teams must answer within 7 seconds after the question is read and try to answer as many as they can out of the total 10 to 15 questions.
Justin Buted stated, “Super Quiz is all about collaboration with your teammates and if you can’t collaborate, it’s basically just a waste of time.”
Enrique Vasquez added, “Not only is Super Quiz about communicating with the team and attaining the answer, but also having fun because it makes the whole experience more enjoyable.”
The final results were released on Feb. 10. The VNHS Acadec team scored a total of 45,984.3 points, placing them as the eighth highest scorer in the district and validating them to compete in state.
Upon hearing news of their advancement, the team wasted no time and has already started preparation for the California Academic Decathlon.
With only a month and a half left to prepare, the team will study vigorously and do their best represent Van Nuys High School in Sacramento.
