By Aisha Espinosa
Staff Writer
Behind the usual classes of World History, Debate and AP Biology, lies a lesser known class with an extensive weight behind the name: Academic Decathlon.
B203, H135, and B202 host the locations of these classes where a multitude of students from different backgrounds and grade levels come together to learn and form a force ready to dominate the Ac Dec world.
But what is Academic Decathlon?
“It’s a class where we study material within a theme and compete other schools in those academics,” Tim Dixon, head of the Academic Decathlon organization at Coppell High School, said. “The theme this year is World War I, and the subjects are music, literature, economics, science, history and math.”
All the subjects, with the exception of math, relate to the category, and the students must prepare themselves for multiple competitions throughout the year. Along with the competitions during the first semester, the students ready themselves for a class-wide tryout in December for the three competing teams of the school.
Only nine students will be split by grade point average to make up the three teams: Honors, Varsity and Scholastic. These teams will go on to compete for the rest of the year.
Although Academic Decathlon is based on studying competitively, being in the organization also entails being a well-rounded person in all subjects and having the ability to construct a well-written speech.
“They have to give a speech where they pick a topic, prepare for it, give an interview, and even have to give an impromptu speech,” Maleda Kunkle, AcDec speech and music lead, said. “It’s a lot of work, and the new ones take a little to adjust to the amount of material they have to cover.”
In a nutshell, Academic Decathlon is definitely more than just an elective or club. It is a rigorous, interactive activity pushing students to their limits. Despite all of the after school time requirements and mandatory Saturday practices, it makes them better students overall.
“I liked that it was a competition in academics,” senior Cejay Zhu, a first year AcDec member, said. “I thought that I was well suited to the class, and I’ve learned a lot, especially with how I study and how other people study.”
On top of studying, the students in AcDec need something to hold them together. They need something of considerable substance to keep them from constantly disagreeing, a regular occurrence in a room of kids who have completely different personalities.
“If there is one thing that binds them together, it is food,” Dixon said.
With Academic Decathlon tryouts coming up, the students and teachers of AcDec are sure to be busy because when it comes down to it, grades and personalities do not matter.
“In AcDec, it does not matter that a student usually has a C average,” Dixon said. “His points count just as much as an A averaging student.”
