Campolindo High School Named 2015 East County Regional Academic Decathlon Champion

News from Jonathan Lance/ Contra Costa County Office of Education:

At this month’s energy-filled Academic Decathlon Awards Reception, Campolindo High School (Moraga) won the 2015 East County Regional Academic Decathlon for the fifth straight year.

Along with being the Regional winner, the team will also represent Contra Costa County in the California State Academic Decathlon competition. Following Campolindo, were Acalanes High School (Lafayette), second place, and Freedom High School, third place.

Directed by the Contra Costa County Office of Education (CCCOE) and with the assistance of 180 community volunteers, the county’s Academic Decathlon provides an opportunity for high school students to compete as individuals and teams in a series of ten academic tests and demonstrations. The subjects in the competition include art, economics, language and literature, mathematics, music, science, social science, essay, interview, and speech (prepared and impromptu), plus the popular SuperQuiz™, a Jeopardy style team competition which brought the program to a close.

Approximately, 140 participating high school students have been studying and preparing for this event with their coaches since September. This year’s Academic Decathlon theme was New Alternatives in Energy: Ingenuity and Innovation.

This year’s teams represent the following high schools: Acalanes (Lafayette), California (San Ramon), Campolindo (Moraga), Concord (Concord), Dublin (Dublin), Freedom (Oakley), Las Lomas (Walnut Creek), and Pittsburg (Pittsburg).

Along with Campolindo High School being Contra Costa County’s champion for five straight years, they were last year’s national winner in the Medium School Category.

Visit this Web page to see Contra Costa County winning schools over the years. High school teams are made up of nine students, grades 9-12, with a maximum of three students in each of the following divisions: Honors (3.75-4.00 GPA), Scholastic (3.00-3.74 GPA) and Varsity (2.99 GPA and below).

The Campolindo High School team will represent Contra Costa County at the California State Academic Decathlon, to be held in Sacramento, March 19-22.

The 2015 East Bay Regional Academic Decathlon overall school rankings:

1. Campolindo

2. Acalanes

3. Las Lomas

4. Freedom

5. Concord

6. Pittsburg

Due to not being able to field the necessary number of students for their schools to compete, Dublin and California High Schools were not eligible to place in the overall team rankings. But, these two teams’ participants were eligible to earn individual awards.

Campolindo High School also won this year’s East Bay Regional Academic Decathlon SuperQuiz™, held recently.

Individual Gold Awards (highest individual score)

Top Scoring Individual – Varsity Holden Kolner (11th grade), Campolindo

Top Scoring Individual – Scholastic Will Coates (12th grade), Campolindo

Top Scoring Individual – Honor Katie Coates (12th grade) Campolindo

Individual Perfect Test Scores

Katie Coates (12th grade), Campolindo – Science Test

Uma Gaffney (11th grade), Campolindo – Speech Test

Nick O’Dea (12th grade), Las Lomas – Speech Test

Iris Wang (11th grade), Acalanes – Interview Test

The Academic Decathlon was first created by Dr. Robert Peterson, former Superintendent of Schools in Orange County, California.

Firmly believing that everyone’s learning potential can be maximized through competitive challenge, Dr. Peterson set in motion the contest that has since come to be recognized as the most prestigious high school academic team competition in the United States. The program spread rapidly throughout the states due to the success and excitement it engendered. USAD was founded in 1981.

This year’s National Academic Decathlon will be held in Garden Grove, Calif., April 16 – 18.

Photos:

Overall 1st Place Campolindo.

Overall 2nd Place Acalanes.

Overall 3rd Place Las Lomas.