Quick News about our WHS Academic Decathlon team and our successful California Academic Decathlon State competition!
The Woodbridge Academic Decathlon team competed in the 44th annual California Academic Decathlon competition in Santa Clara this past weekend and finished 3rd place in the Division 1, the most competitive division in the most competitive state in the nation. This matches our highest finish ever at CAD, and our score unofficially places us in the Top 8 in the entire nation.
During the event, the team competed against nearly 60 of the top schools in the state of California in a series of 10 academic events, ranging from mathematics to social science to speech and interview, all revolving around this year’s theme of The American Revolution.
California is, by far, the most competitive state- the Division 1 State Champion of California almost always goes on to win the United States Academic Decathlon National Championship which features each state's champion. The California State Champion has won the overall National Championship for the last 20 years in a row. Our team was matched up against some incredibly talented schools and students, and our students represented themselves, Woodbridge, and Orange County with pride.
Heading into the state competition, the team set realistic goals of improving on our team score from the county competition, improving individual team member scores, and having the highest State Competition score among the Orange County schools that advanced to State. Due to the hard work and commitment of the team members, we were able to achieve many of these goals!
This year our CAD team members are:
Deena Sun, Nathan Gov, Ria Kundu, Catherine Tsaowimonsiri, Nate Spear, Victoria Sun, Melvin Wu, Therese Gonzales
All of our team members performed very well, achieved personal goals, and contributed to the team’s success. The team has been preparing extensively since last June and their success is a testament to the sacrifice, diligence, and maturity of this great group of kids. They definitely deserve every award and accolade they’ve earned!
Of special note, several of our team members were near the top of the entire competition for their individual performances on certain subjects:
Deena- 2nd Art; 2nd Interview; 3rd Science; 3rd Social Science and the 4th highest overall score in the state out of 500+ students
Ria- 3rd Speech
Nathan- 3rd Interview; 3rd Economics; 3rd Social Science
If you have the opportunity, please congratulate all of these students for their incredible hard work and dedication this year and for continuing the legacy and tradition of excellence that is Woodbridge Academic Decathlon!