Individual and team winners of the 25th Annual Sacramento County Academic Decathlon — conducted by the Sacramento County Office of Education — have been announced. Following is a listing of those honored February 9 at the Academic Decathlon Awards Banquet, which took place at Sacramento's Doubletree Hotel. KOVR-TV 13 chief meteorologist Dave Bender served as master of ceremonies as awards were presented in more than a dozen categories.
School and district administrators joined with civic leaders to bestow gold, silver, and bronze medals to high school students scoring highest in various academic subjects. Sacramento County Academic Decathlon Director Dr. Niel Malvetti opened the program, followed by Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools David W. Gordon, who welcomed participants and recognized the students for their individual and team efforts. Superintendent Gordon thanked the teachers who contributed hundreds of hours as Academic Decathlon coaches, and he gave special acknowledgment to the parents for supporting and helping direct their children's academic paths. "The Academic Decathlon is a wonderful event—an opportunity for the community to witness the successes of students at all levels," he said. "We want to encourage even greater participation, to expand this event in size and scope...to really build a capacity audience that will cheer for academic achievement."
Superintendent Gordon and Sacramento County Board of Education President Christopher W. Woods presented the perpetual trophy to Bella Vista High School for achieving the highest team score. Bella Vista High School will represent Sacramento County at the California Academic Decathlon March 11-12 in Los Angeles. The Sacramento County Academic Decathlon competition took place on February 5 at Del Campo High School in Fair Oaks.
Winners of Super Decathlete awards
(students with overall best individual scores, by category)
H=Honors, S=Scholastic, V=Varsity
Gold Medal
(H) Molly King, Bella Vista High School
(S) Drew Fleshman, Bella Vista High School
(V) Tamsen Wright, Bella Vista High School
<b?Silver Medal
(H) Janelle Tiulentino, Rio Vista High School
(S) Peter Stamos, Bella Vista High School
(V) Bill Neiswender, Bella Vista High School
Bronze Medal
(H) Kyle Stewart, Sheldon High School
(S) Katelyn Schirmer, Bella Vista High School
(V) Sarah Jeter, Mira Loma High School
Schools placing highest in the Super Quiz competition
(compilation of scores from written & oral Super Quiz exams)
1st Bella Vista High School
2nd Mira Loma High School
3rd Del Campo High School
4th Folsom High School
5th Galt High School
6th Rio Vista High School
7th Luther Burbank High School
8th Franklin High School
Most Improved Score From Prior Year
San Juan High School
2005 Academic Decathlon Rankings
1st Bella Vista High School, coached by Jaime Bonato and Mike Erickson
(THE BELLA VISTA HIGH SCHOOL TEAM NOW ADVANCES TO THE STATEWIDE COMPETITION) MARCH 11-12 IN LOS ANGELES
2nd Folsom High School, coached by Melinda Wilson
3rd Del Campo High School, coached by John Davis
4th Mira Loma High School, coached by Karen Kuy
5th Rio Vista High School, coached by Bill Fulk
6th Galt High School, coached by Edward Murray
7th Laguna Creek High School, coached by Susan Boone
8th Luther Burbank High School, coached by Warren Schnack
9th Franklin High School, coached by Matt Wiest
10th Elk Grove High School, coached by Leah Bos
11th Valley High School, coached by Erik Prussel
12th San Juan High School, coached by Michael Peebles
13th Rio Linda High School, coached by Jason Cummings
14th Encina High School, coached by Lynn Begg
15th Rio Americano High School, coached by Kim Martin
16th Center High School, coached by Jeremy Hunt
17th Sheldon High School, coached by Krysten Cornelius and Richard Mowrer
About the Academic Decathlon
Each school's team, comprised of Honors ("A" average) students, Scholastic ("B" average) students, and Varsity ("C" average) students, competed February 5 in the 25th Annual Sacramento County Academic Decathlon at Del Campo High School. Modeling their efforts after the Olympic Decathlon, students vied for top individual and team scores in 10 academic events: speech, interview, essay, art, math, music, social science, economics, language/literature, and the Super Quiz. The Academic Decathlon, an all-day event, represented months of study and preparation by approximately 150 students and their teacher-coaches.
Culminating the event was the oral portion of the Super Quiz, in which each team competed head-to-head against the others in answering tough questions on this year's theme, Astronomy—From Empty Space to Incredible Universe: The Sky is Not the Limit. Serving as the celebrity Super Quiz-master was Dana Hess of Y92 radio. The overall theme of the 2005 Academic Decathlon is Exploring the Ancient World.
The countywide Academic Decathlon is conducted each year by staff and volunteers of the Sacramento County Office of Education. Toastmasters International of Sacramento, school and district administrators, Office Depot, the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and others also provide assistance and support.
Additional information is available by phoning the Sacramento County Office of Education at (916) 228-2222 or accessing the following websites: