The competing nine students made many sacrifices to place the Academic Decathlon into the top five of the entire Fresno County. The actual day took place from 7:45 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. with only a few sparse breaks during the day. However, when the dust cleared, nine time defending champion Edison won again. The four teams who placed in front of the team each enroll almost ten times more students than Fresno Christian.

“I was disappointed by only getting a bronze,” Tim Swift, ’02, said. “I realize that I was competing against larger schools, but I think I could have done better.”

Swift, however disappointed with his medalling, still placed ninth overall out of all of Fresno County.

“You can never learn too much,” adviser Molly Sargent, said. “The team discovered this Saturday February 2 the amount of information the team learned that their dedication to their task resulted in a fifth place finish in division one. Which in my opinion is one of the most impressive accomplishments ever in school history.””

With the teams fifth place finish they placed only 400 points out of 60,000 behind Clovis West, a school of 2,801 students compared to Fresno Christian’s 301 students.

“Every single second Mrs. Sargent wasn’t teaching at her house we ran over to T.V. to play four player Bond on 64,” Casey Belmont, ’02, said. “The funniest thing about that was watching the girls trying to play the game.”

Academic Decathlon was not just fun and games. It helped a lot of the students academically and for classes also.

“The Academic Decathlon class has helped me broaden my horizon,” Josh Justin, ’03, said. “Even though I did not compete in the competition I still explored new subjects such as art, music, and the internet. Plus Academic Decathlon is great for my college application.”

The Academic Decathlon class counts for four college credits on top of the regular ten high school credits. Many students, however, would take the class just to advance their knowledge.

“I did a lot of studying for the competition,” Melissa Morris, ’03, said. “I felt most confident in art, music, language, and literature areas. I ended up winning a bronze medal in art. Even if I had not won anything, I would still feel that all the studying was useful. There are so many things I have learned from the class, which has made all of the work enjoyable for me.”

Returning competitors for next year have a huge advantage on people who will compete next year for the first time.

“I was really close to medalling in four events including interview which was a huge shock to me,” Nathan White, ’03, said. “Now I know what to study for next year’s competition.”

The Academic Decathlon team seems to score better every year and hopes to improve even more as time progresses.
” “Molly Sargent, coach” “In only the second year of competing in Division I, campus students placed fifth and sixth overall out of all Valley schools in the annual Academic Decathlon competition held at Fresno State on Feb. 2. Nathan White, ?03, placed seventh overall in the Scholastic Division and Tim Swift, ?02, right, individually placed nineth in the Honor Division. ” “Mark Penberthy, Firebaugh Acadec coach” “The Acadec team arrived in front of the Fresno State police department just before they split up for the interview portion of the Academic Decathlon competition. ” “