Acton-Boxborough Academic Decathlon Team Wins First Place in State Tournament: On to the Nationals

After the Academic Decathlon team last Saturday placed first -- for the 11^th year in a row -- in the 2011 Massachusetts state tournament, the achievement has landed the ABRHS Academic Decathlon team the opportunity to compete in the national championship in Charlotte, North Carolina next month.

The decathlon state tournament is not much of a spectator sport; nine ABRHS students take tests in art, economics, literature, mathematics, social science and music – as well as write an essay, give a speech and partake in an interview. There were 16 Massachusetts qualifying high schools teams that competed; with Braintree placing 2^nd, Franklin 3^rd, Wayland 4^th and St. John’s (in Shrewsbury) 5^th.

"It is a fabulous achievement for the students on the team to secure the state title for so many consecutive years," said ABRHS Academic Decathlon coach, Andrew Crick. "Members of the team take a great amount of pride in being part of that tradition and they work hard each year to sustain it."

The competition was broken down into three individual divisions – Honors, Scholastic and Varsity. All nine of the ABRHS Academic Decathlon team members placed in the top 5 out of 48 in the individual divisions:

Honors Division:

Junior – Mark Liu (1^st place)

Senior – Michael Ren (2^nd place)

Junior – Martin Ma (5^th place)

Scholastic Division:

Senior – Michael Wu (1^st place)

Senior – Yang Liu (2^nd place)

Senior – Charlie He (4^th place)

Varsity Division:

Junior – Srinath Ramakrishnan (1^st place)

Senior – Deepa Sueel (4^th place)

Senior – Tarana Bhatia (5^th place)

“Something we are doing here (at ABRHS) is working,” said Kay Steeves, ABRHS student/faculty support coordinator. 

ABRHS English teacher Crick has been coaching the Academic Decathlon team for 12 years now – with a record of 11 Massachusetts tournament 1st place wins. The state decathlon tournament and the national decathlon tournament has not only helped students academically prepare for life after high school, but it has also prepared them to handle being interviewed.

During the interview segment, each student hands their basic resume to a panel of judges, who then ask the students general questions about their academic achievements thus far and what they are interested in studying in college.

“When we practiced this, I invited business people and school administrators to help the kids practice their interviewing skills and they were asked questions about high school and college plans,” said Steeves. “ During the interview segment of the competition, they were scored on their language, their appropriateness, their body language and their eye contact.”

The ABRHS Decathlon team is currently preparing for the national tournament (April 27-30), and is raising money for the trip. According to a press release about the event, there is no corporate sponsor that will cover the state winning team's trip expenses. If interested in contributing funds toward the trip, contact Crick, the ABRHS Academic Decathlon coach.

“They are going to be competing against some really prestigious schools, where actually, Academic Decathlon is a core course,” said Steeves. “For our kids, it is an extracurricular activity – so they get to study during their spare time (laughs).”