Academic Decathlon – Upgrade Your Education

The Academic Decathlon Club gives students the freedom to explore and discover their passion. 

It’s an independent study program in the sense that you get to work together with teammates and apply students’ knowledge to tests as well as perform speeches.

Senior Abigail Lambesis said she is “motivated to win first place…I’m in it to win it!”

Members choose three topics to focus on. 

Academic Decathlon covers many areas: Math, History, Economics, Literature, Art, Music, and Communication Arts. 

All of which give them an extensive learning experience in that field. 

After they choose their topics, they compose a prepared speech, an impromptu speech, and an interview. 

Students are then given a list of tasks to complete prior to the competition.

It all comes down to the competition, which consists of 10 tests on each of the 10 subjects.

These tests are where the competitors perform their speeches while competing with other students studying the same topic.

 Everything is subject to the judge’s perspective. 

These judges are usually volunteers, and you must truly wow them with your information to win. 

In 2021, a member of the Sunnyslope Academic Decathlon Club won third place in their impromptu speech while competing against 36 other schools.

Lambesis has been in the Academic Decathlon club for over a year now, and she had a lot of interesting things to share. 

“I joined Academic Decathlon to take my learning to the next level…I wanted to be able to explore the subjects in school that I’m most passionate about” Lambesis shared.

Academic Decathlon helps allow students to expand their learning and focus on one topic at a time.

Kevin Semelsberger, one of the administrators of the club explains, “students will enjoy ACADEC if they like being academically challenged and they want to improve their speaking skills.”

The Academic Decathlon club at Sunnyslope meets on Thursdays in room J352, currently administered by Jason Robinson and Kevin Semelsberger.