The Woodbridge High Academic Decathlon team placed 1st overall out of 34 high schools in the 55th annual Orange County Academic Decathlon competition, repeating as back-to-back champions, and capturing our 6th OC Championship in the last 7 years! (we finished 2nd to Uni in the modified hybrid-year season)
If you are interested in possibly joining our program as a coach or advisor (there is a stipend!), please let me know!
More details:
This year’s team consisted of 9 students and 3 alternates, and they competed in a series of 10 academic events, ranging from mathematics and social science to speech and interview on this year’s competition theme of the American Revolution.
The team has been working hard since last June, meeting after school, on weekends, throughout Summer and Winter Breaks, putting in several hundred hours of preparation outside of the school day. Through the course of the year, the team came together, worked hard, and committed to each other and the program, demonstrating the grit and resolve to repeat as champions.
Their success is an incredible testament to the discipline, dedication, and maturity of this great group of kids, most of whom are returning decathletes who wanted to finish their AcaDeca career on top. They represented themselves and the school with pride and have furthered the proud legacy of OCAD at Woodbridge.
This year our team members are:
- Seniors: Risha Bhat, Nathan Gov, Hank Huang, Ria Kundu, Nate Spear, Deena Sun, Victoria Sun, Melvin Wu,
- Juniors: Therese Gonzales, Rachel Khorashadi, Jamie Shih, Catherine Tsaowimonsiri
All of our team members performed exceptionally well, achieved personal and team goals, and won, in total nearly 90 individual medals and over $7000 in scholarship money.
Of special note, several of our team members were at the top of the entire competition for their overall performances and received numerous individual accolades and generous financial scholarships:
“Varsity GPA Category”
Melvin Wu placed 7th overall in the entire county for this GPA category and earned $100
Therese Gonzales placed 2nd overall in the entire county for this GPA category and earned $800
“Scholastic GPA Category”
Rachel Khorashadi placed 4th overall in the entire county for this GPA category and earned $600
Catherine Tsaowimonsiri placed 3rd overall in the entire county for this GPA category and earned $700
Victoria Sun placed 2nd overall in the entire county for this GPA category and earned $800
Nate Spear placed 1st overall in the entire county for this GPA category and earned $1000
“Honors GPA Category”
Jamie Shih had the 8th highest score in the entire competition and earned $100
Risha Bhat had the 5th highest score in the entire competition and earned $500
Nathan Gov had the 3rd highest score in the entire competition and earned $700
Ria Kundu had the 2nd highest score in the entire competition and earned $800
And, as a first time Decathlete, Deena Sun had the highest score in the entire county and competition, earning $1000
Overall, Woodbridge claimed 4 of the Top 5 highest scores in the county, and 9 of the Top 15 highest scores in the county!
With our OC Championship, Woodbridge will represent Orange County at the CAD State Competition for the twelfth consecutive year, along with 6 other OC Schools that qualified as at-large teams, who finished the OC competition in this order:
1: Woodbridge
2: Valencia
3: University
4: Trabuco Hills
5. Westminster
6. Kennedy
7. Fairmont Prep
This year's CAD State Competition will be the first in-person competition since 2019, and it will be an exciting opportunity for the team, as none of the students have experienced the competition and camaraderie with other decathletes from all over California.
Heading into the California Academic Decathlon State Competition in March, we have high goals and expectations for the state competition, and the students are looking forward to improving upon their county scores and finishing in the Top 3 in California.
If you see these students, please congratulate them for their incredible hard work and dedication and wish them luck as they compete at the state level in March!