EGHS Academic Decathlon Team Places Third In State

The East Greenwich High School Academic Decathlon team had a strong showing again this year, placing third overall in the state competition last month, with senior Tori Van Vleet capturing the top prize for speech.

If the name “Academic Decathlon” conjures up a room full of a school’s best and brightest, well, that’s true, but not in the typical sense, perhaps. That’s because the Acadeca teams are built around three tiers of students, those with A averages, B averages and C averages in the core subjects.

But it’s not quite that simple, longtime Acadeca coach Frank Lenox explained. That’s because the program counts a C in an honors class the same as it does a C in a regular class. And students who excel in the arts, for instance, but not in math and science may get A’s in art class but have a C average in the courses the Academic Decathlon counts (math, science, English).

Both of those examples are represented in senior Tori Van Vleet, whose speech was so impressive at the competition it won top honors (you can watch it here). Lenox encouraged VanVleet to join the team last year, when she was in his honors physics class.

Lenox said he and fellow coach Ben Revkin (who teaches Latin) tend to look for students with a real interest in learning, who are intuitive and comfortable speaking up – “Students who have a cache of knowledge that doesn’t always fit in the typical academic situation but they would excell in the competition,” said Lenox.

Some of those students are going to be the smartest kids in the room – Eddy Luo, for instance, who Tori call “a math genius.” But others might be like Van Vleet – interested, engaged, smart and, in her case, terrific at public speaking.

It’s that blend of expertise that makes for a strong team. And East Greenwich has seen a number of strong teams in recent years. In 2010, they won the state and got to travel to the national competition. In 2011, the team placed second. Last year and this year, the team has placed third.

This year, in addition to Van Vleet’s speech tour de force, Caitlyn Mason was the team’s high scorer, followed by Luo, who medaled not only in math and economics, but music as well.

Each year, the competition is based on a different theme, which was Russia this year. Teams typically start meeting in the fall, but can get a head start over the summer since the theme and materials for the following year are announced in the spring.

The competition itself is comprised of 10 parts and every team member has to participate in each part. There are three sitdown tests in the morning, then members present their speech. After lunch, there are four sitdown tests, followed by an interview and then the (terrifying!) super quiz, a live event.

For Van Vleet, she knew she wanted to write her speech about her dyslexia, but not in a depressing way.

"There are certain speechs that just come to me," she said afterward. "I’m in my basement talking to myself, writing bullets on my white board and then I put them all together. I love when that happens, then it doesn’t feel like a chore."

Her winning speech was like that. After weeks of thinking about how to write it, she read a Kurt Vonnegut story and something clicked. 

"I finalized it the day before," she said. 

Van Vleet said she learned she had dyslexia when she was 6 years old and struggling to learn to read. Her father is dyslexic, so her parents were on the lookout for it with their children.

"A lot of people think of it as a visual problem," said Van Vleet. But it's not. "It’s not really a visual thing for most people. For most people it’s a mental thing, I have trouble with them in my head," she said of words. "What a lot of people don’t understand about dyslexia is the neuron connections are messed up."

Van Vleet recognizes the silver lining in her dyslexia. "A lot of times, with anyone, if you have a problem with one thing, you can be very good at something else. They have to learn to adapt."

Van Vleet adapted. Her winning speech is a strong indication of that. 

The 2012-13 EGHS Academic Decathlon team included Neal Glennon, Will Karabots, Tori Van Vleet, Scott Kulm, Alec Lebovitz, Eddy Luo, Chris Luo, Caitlyn Mason, Mimi Zhang, Mingyi Wu, Gauri Ganesh, Ali Marcus, Michele Xiong, Heather Shen, Jane Chung, Zoe Hinman, and Cam Waitkin. The team is advised by Mr. Lenox and Mr. Revkin.

You learn ways with dealing with it.

A lot of people think of it as a visual

When I’m writing, this sound that I say is shaped like this, but I don’t know the exact lettering because I can’t figure it out.

We can’t sound things out

I

What a lot of people don’t understand about dysl., … the neuron connections are messed up.

They have a deficiency on two-dimensional things like language.

They

The

A lot of times, with any human, if you have a problem with one thing, you can be very good at something else.

They have to learn to adapt.