While athletes run, throw and catch on the fields outside, the Academic Decathlon team (AcaDec) is competing for knowledge. Students study all year to challenge themselves in learning about a particular subject, this year the French Revolution and Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities.

AcaDec is an accelerated class offered to students to expand their knowledge on a specific subject, preparing for the countywide competition, Jan. 30.

“AcaDec is awesome because it is college level material to challenge yourself,” AcaDec adviser Michael Fenton said. “It doesn’t matter what GPA you have; we need people of all GPA levels. AcaDec lets people get interested in a subject and challenge themselves to break a new learning ground.”

Students say AcaDec provides a considerable homework load, but can be beneficial in the long run.

“This year is a lot of work compared to last [year in AcaDec],” Rachel Wilhelm, ’11, said. “We are actually learning the material by playing games and being very interactive. It is hard to balance what subject you want to do well in, but sometimes [AcaDec] is helpful because some of the subjects coincide with school work.”

In contrast to Wilhelm’s enthusiasm, many students say they would feel overwhelmed by the workload.

“I would never join AcaDec,” Victoria Hindes, ’12, said. “I’m in AP US History and that is enough homework for me. AcaDec is harder and requires you to do more. I don’t need more work like speeches and writing. It would prepare me better for school, but with a cost of more studying, and that class has more than any other.”

Senior Jessika Searles says she appreciates both the academic and social aspects of the class.

“This is my first year in AcaDec,” Jessika Searles, ’10, said. “AcaDec is actually really fun, I thought it was going to be boring, but it’s diverse. I like how our class has only six people in it, so we crack a lot of jokes and are not always serious. Mr. Fenton pushes us a lot and I think this year we will do better then years past.”

FC has only 10 students in AcaDec (four students take the class independently) compared to other schools who may have twenty.

“I think this year will be successful,” Fenton said. “We only have two returning students from last year [Wilhelm and Julio Ibarra], everyone else is new, including myself. My goal is next year we will have more returning students as well as new recruits.”

Students say the class’ size has contributed to their enjoyment.

“We have a team atmosphere,” Wilhelm said. “I have become friends with people who I wouldn’t normally be friends with; we have a lot of inside jokes.”

In a semester, the students cover material on ten different sections within the over-arching topic. The students study, attend lectures and take practice tests to prepare for the competition at the end of January.

“At times it can be difficult to attend all of the classes outside of school,” Searles said. “But it is well worth it. To do well you must read a lot and sometimes you may need to read it multiple times to do well on the test, [thankfully] we read a lot in class. I have noticed that I have improved in all of my other classes greatly since I’m a very visual person.”

At the end of January, AcaDec will compete in a two-day competition at California State University, Fresno, testing the students on speeches, essays, interviews and exams on other material. There are 10 topics in all.

“Those who live and breath the material are able to go over everything multiple times,” Fenton said. “A few years ago a student did extremely well and was able to receive multiple medals in the various subjects.”

For more information, e-mail Fenton or read the Feb. 3 article, AcaDec concludes first competition day.