CRAIG SHULTZ
Fifty four of the region’s top young minds will compete against scholars from the rest of the state at the California Academic Decathlon championships next weekend. Teams from two Hemet schools and two Redlands schools will be among the competitors Friday and Saturday in Sacramento. Riverside County champion Hemet West Valley and San Bernardino County winner Chaffey will be joined by Elsinore, Hemet, Redlands East Valley and Redlands. In the Academic Decathlon, ninemember teams of high school students take tests, write essays and give speeches about mathematics, economics, art, music, language/literature and social science. Teams practice for months, often studying deep into the night for the twoweekend county competition to attempt to qualify for state. “Academic Decathlon is one of the competitions that teaches the kids to really push themselves,” West Valley coach Timm Hannem said. Michael Martin, an 18-year-old senior from West Valley who was the top scorer in the Riverside County contest, will be making a second trip to the state finals. He was a member of the West Valley team that finished second in the county and 37th in the state last year. Martin earned eight medals this year and scored 8,994.1 points out of a possible 10,000 in helping West Valley achieve the 10th highest score in the state. Chaffey and Elsinore also had scores among the top 20 schools and will compete in Division 1, facing teams that will be favored to win the national title. The other three Inland schools will be in Division 2; 66 teams compete in three divisions. This will be Chaffey’s seventh consecutive trip to the state competition. The school has placed in the top 10 four times. Though the teams take the local competition seriously – despite wearing funny hats, headbands and face paint – the state contest is more for fun and individual achievements. “We’re each focused on different subjects and we’ll try to get good individual scores,” Martin said. FRIENDLY RIVALRY Martin said he enjoyed hanging out with the competitors from Hemet and Elsinore high schools at last year’s state competition. The three schools have dominated the Riverside County competition the past few years. “The rivalry wasn’t among us any more,” he said. “It was a chance to represent Riverside (County) well, and it’s also for a little fun.” Martin doesn’t just excel at Academic Decathlon. The class valedictorian has a 4.45 grade-point average and also participates in water polo and swimming. He is hoping to attend MIT, with a second choice of UC Berkeley. Martin plans to study nuclear engineering, so this year’s Academic Decathlon topic of New Alternatives in Energy: Ingenuity and Innovation was right up his alley. Hannem said Martin is smart, but he also works really hard. “He is naturally one of the most intelligent kids I’ve ever worked with,” Hannem said. “But he has a strong work ethic. He never gives up, he’s always asking questions.” Martin said having competed at the Academic Decathlon last year helped him prepare for this, especially on how to gear his studies and what to focus on. Martin said the biggest difference this year was his mental preparation. “Last year I studied as hard as this year, but I didn’t give enough attention to making sure I’m rested,” he said. “I focused a lot more on keeping myself mentally healthy. It’s easy to study every minute of the day, but you have to remind yourself to take breaks.” What is Academic Decathlon?
In the Academic Decathlon, high school students take written exams, write essays, deliver prepared and impromptu speeches and interview with judges over two weekends. Students accumulate individual and team points in mathematics, economics, art, music, language/literature, social science and Super Quiz, a game-show style competition. Each team has nine students, three from each grade point category – Honor (GPA 3.75 and above), Scholastic (GPA 3.00 to 3.74) and Varsity (GPA 2.99 and below). Winners at the county level, plus the next-highest-scoring teams, qualify for the state competition. The theme for 2015 was New Alternatives in Energy: Ingenuity and Innovation. The state finals are Friday and Saturday in Sacramento. INLAND ACADEMIC DECATHLON TEAMS
Teams from six Inland high schools will compete in the state Academic Decathlon finals Friday and Saturday in Sacramento. Riverside County West Valley High State rating: 10th Team: Mario Blanco, Martiana Browning, Elisha Dayag, Jose Leyva, Michael Martin, Isabel Michel, Daniel Nieto, Yvette Relles Powell and Mc Crae Remudaro Coach: Timm Hannem Quote: “This team has closely bonded, kind of like a family. I’d like to see us come home with some hardware. We’ve been working harder than we have in the past for state.” – Coach Timm Hannem Elsinore High State rating: 19th Team: Darian Bess, Maxwell Bland, Gavin Dumesnil, Matthew Ferguson, Joseph Hernandez, Nynna Le, Manuel Tapia, Princess Tarabishi and Daniel Varvello Coach: Ryan Klopp Quote: “We will not stop working until we reach our goal of being Riverside County champs. We are competing in Division 1 at state, which has the best teams from the state. Our goal is to have at least one person bring home a medal seeing that we are competing against the teams who end up winning the national competition.” – Coach Ryan Klopp Hemet High State rating: 22nd Team: Nicolas Browen, Alena Dinh, Connor Hildebrand, Christian Klug, Mathew Mullen, Garrett Patterson, Thomas Roscher Cain, Kalina Vitela and Autumn Wallace Coach: Art Plinski Quote: “Hemet High is very proud of its Academic Decathlon team and is excited to see how they compete against the top talent in the state. Our goals are to finish well in our division and win many individual medals.” – Coach Art Plinski San Bernardino County Chaffey High State rating: 11th Team: Baltazar Barrios, Rose Borrero, Quentin Caraway, Jasmin Castanon, Genevieve Hernandez, Dominique Salazar, Giselle Serafin, Freddy Soto and Kassidy Zhang Coach: Steven Mercado Quote: “Our goal this year is to place in the top 10 once again. This would make three years in a row. Only one other San Bernardino County school has ever placed in the top 10 (Fontana in 1988), so Chaffey’s current run at state is unprecedented for San Bernardino County. The field is very tight this year. Less than 1,000 points separate the seventh- through 13th-place teams. This is about as competitive as I’ve ever seen it over these past seven years.” – Coach Steven Mercado East Valley High State rating: 26th Team: Lillian Cogan, Zofia Fraczek, Joel Goodman, Ian Mahoney, John Park, Bruce Thompson, Malcolm Tran, Ryan Watt and Jason Zhang Coach: Ed Bergman Quote: “One cannot paint an accurate picture of the program without talking about the sheer drive that accompanied this year’s team. Our goal, as we prepare for the state championships in Sacramento, is to improve our standing and continue to grow as a team.” – Team co-captain Ryan Watt Redlands High State rating: 40th Team: Kristy Cappelli, Stephen Eicher, Jose Gonzalez, Erin Jenne, Margaux Jones, Manmeet Kaur, Sofia Martinez, Laila Ribadu, Stephen Shu Coach: Donna St. George Quote: “I’m hoping that we can move up in Division 2 and win some individual medals in some subjective areas, but it’s going to be a tough road.” – Coach Donna St. George