For the first time in 13 years, FC will not be attending the 31st annual Academic Decathlon, also known as AcaDec.

AcaDec plays a role in examining the students’ intellectual capacity over 10 categories: Essay, Interview and Speech make up the “subjectives,” while Art, Economics, Language and Literature, Mathematics, Music, Science and Super Quiz (social science) comprise the “objectives.”

The five month preparation for last year’s competition lead the FC students to a third place title in Division III with an overall place of 11th with a total of 13 medals.

Principal Todd Bennett shares the reasoning behind FC not playing a part in this year’s competition.

“All classes are based upon student interest and there was not enough interest to have the class,” Bennett said. “It is the same as video productions, its down to one class. We do not offer French any more, some years we offer physical science and some years we don’t.”

The decision to cut the program arrises when students do not have the desire to join an academic team. With only seven students participating last year, the school was unsure about the number of kids who would join this year.

“When we have to make a decision on which classes we’re going to offer the following year,” Bennett said. “That is why we give out those sheets in the spring because we want to find out what kids want to take and then we base what we are going to have on student interest, right now its wained a little bit for AcaDec.”

Former AcaDec coach, Molly Sargent, expresses the pain of not having AcaDec this year. AcaDec has played big role in her life after coaching the class for 13 years.

“It means a lot to me,” Sargent said. “I was very sad; we have done so well in the past and I think it is a source of pride for the students who are on the team. Also, we have a lot of kids who don’t play sports, obviously, so the one thing they might be good at is academics. This is taking away their only opportunity to be in a team situation and have that experience.”

Senior Jessica Herron encourages others to join AcaDec next year if the class is available, and shares the difficulty the class brings.

“AcaDec takes a lot of hard work and time, but its really fun,” Herron said. “I would encourage underclassmen to do AcaDec, but you have to make sure you are really ready for it because it takes a lot of time and energy. There is a lot of studying and learning for different things that goes into it.”

Sargent includes a brief story of how AcaDec has helped former autistic FC students, and the affect it had on not just her, but the other decathletes as well.

“Three or four years running, I had autistic students who were on the Academic Decathlon team,” Sargent said. “They could not be apart of any other group activity. Since it was small and they knew and trusted me, they felt apart of that group.”

Sargent shared how autistic students being on the team brought growth for them and improved their socialization skills. They brought a learning lesson for those students as well.

“It helped the students on the team have a more tolerant attitude of them overall,” Sargent said. “I understand why we cannot do AcaDec this year, but it does not keep me from being sad about it and wishing it were other wise; AcaDec has meant a lot to me.”

Previous decathlete, Ashley Erickson, ’13, tells the disappointment of not being able to attend this years competition. Erickson found a lot of enjoyment in the class and wishes it had not resulted in this way.

“It is very disappointing that we are not doing AcsDec this year,” Erickson said. “It is a great opportunity and I think people would really enjoy it. It was a lot of fun last year and it very interesting getting to know people that I, other wise, would not have been able to hang out with. It was enlightening being able to learn all the stuff that they have. There’s a wide range of material that I would would not have been able to learn.”

FC has made their name known by standing as the only Christian school taking part of AcaDec for the past 12 years. Sargent shares the influence FC has made on the program.

“We have had a team every year and I have always thought that it was great as a Christian school we had a team,” Sargent said. “We were the only ones with a private school in the county, until last year when San Joaquin Memorial filled out a team, they did not have one all those years so that made us the sole representatives.”

FC being advertised was very important to Sargent and the significance the school’s involvement has been.

“I thought it was important for the school to get our name out there,” Sargent said. “Second, give us legitimacy in the community and also with Fresno County Office of Education, to show we have had good and capable students that are performing as high as any other school in the county.”

The status of FC playing a role in AcaDec next school year is still undecided, and is decided by the students’ interest level. Bennett tells us what the future that AcaDec holds.

“There is always a chance we will do it again,” Bennett said. “I believe it takes nine kids to make a team for the team round, and then usually there are a few more rounds for the individual stuff. So, if we have enough kids and enough interests then yes we will do it again.”

For more news, read the Aug. 30 article, BRIEF: Classes meet to share devotional, information.