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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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United States Academic Decathlon National Championship
The United States Academic Decathlon (USAD) is an American academic competition for high school students. The United States Academic Decathlon National Championship, first held in 1982, pits winners at the state level against each other for a national title. The Academic Decathlon consists of 10 events: art, economics, essay, interview, language and literature, math, music, science, social science, and speech. The Super Quiz replaces one of the seven objective events; since 2003, it has alternated between replacing science and social science. The Academic Decathlon requires participation from students of all levels of academic ability; teams generally consist of nine members, who are divided into three divisions based on grade point average: Honors (3.80–4.00 GPA), Scholastic (3.20–3.79 GPA), and Varsity (0.00–3.19 GPA). Though teams consist of nine members (three from each category), only the top two individuals from each category are counted in the final team score. Each student has the possibility of scoring up to 10,000 points, for a combined team score of 60,000.

At the national competition, Schools compete based on size and are divided into three divisions (I, II, and III). However, this separation is only limited to overall team score and overall individual score. Nine overall team medals are awarded: gold, silver and bronze for each division. Similarly, 27 overall individual medals are awarded: gold, silver and bronze for Honors, Scholastic, and Varsity in each division. The rest of the medals—for example, gold in art for Honors, or silver in math for Varsity—are awarded to the top scoring persons regardless of division. In addition, winning teams have often been invited to meet the President of the United States.

In April 1982, the first Nationals was held at Loyola Marymount University in California—16 states and the District of Columbia participated. However, the competition's founder, Dr. Robert Peterson, was inspired by the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He hoped to make Academic Decathlon an international event, and so at the 1984 Nationals, Canada, Mexico, and New Zealand fielded teams in addition to teams from 32 U.S. states. The inclusion of foreign countries did not become a regular occurrence, however. There was no more international participation until 1989, when teams from Northern Ireland and Rio de Janeiro competed. Since then, no more than a few teams a year have competed at Nationals. Since the first national event in 1982, only three states have ever won the National Competition: California, Texas, and Wisconsin, with California having won the majority of the National Competitions. The current National Champion is El Camino Real Charter High School from Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.

In 2006, the small school virtual competition was created for schools with 650 or fewer students. Two years later, the medium school virtual competition was added to accommodate schools with a student population between 650 and 1300. In 2010, the virtual competition was expanded to include large schools by allowing the second-highest performing school in each state to compete in a large school e-Nationals. These contests are held via the internet and as such, the interview and speech events are excluded. The remaining eight tests are completed on the computer and results are submitted electronically to USAD for scoring. Because only the seven multiple choice tests and essay are used, team scores are out of 48,000 points instead of 60,000. Despite it being a virtual competition, winning schools are awarded trophies and medals for their efforts. According to USAD, the goal of the small and medium school competitions is to "enhance learning, growth and recognition" for more schools participating in Academic Decathlon.

National winners

   New team record

Year Location Winner School Score Notes Reference
1982 Los Angeles, California Palo Alto, California — The District of Columbia and 17 states participated at the inaugural competition.
1983 Los Angeles, California Palo Alto, California — —
1984 Los Angeles, California J.J. Pearce, Texas — This is the first year that drew competitors from other countries. Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and South Korea all participated.
1985 Los Angeles, California J.J. Pearce, Texas 46,976 —
1986 Los Angeles, California J.J. Pearce, Texas 46,435 —
1987 Irving, Texas John Marshall, California 49,369 Varsity David Florey of John Marshall records an individual score of 8,936 points, the highest score of that year's competition.
1988 San Antonio, Texas J.J. Pearce, Texas 46,669 —
1989 Providence, Rhode Island W.H. Taft, California 45,857 —
1990 Des Moines, Iowa Lake Highlands, Texas 46,627 —
1991 Los Angeles, California J.J. Pearce, Texas 48,946 —
1992 Boise, Idaho J. Frank Dobie, Texas 49,710 Tyson Rogers, an Honors from Mountain View Mesa, scores 9,100 points and is the first individual to break the 9,000 point barrier.
1993 Phoenix, Arizona Plano East, Texas 47,485 —
1994 Newark, New Jersey W.H. Taft, California 49,372 —
1995 Chicago, Illinois John Marshall, California 49,935 Honors Stephanie Camacho of John Marshall records an individual score of 9346 points, the highest score of that year's competition in mathematic and highest individual score team contribution.
1996 Atlanta, Georgia J. Frank Dobie, Texas 49,835 —
1997 St. George, Utah James E. Taylor, Texas 52,260 —
1998 Providence, Rhode Island El Camino Real, California 52,131 —
1999 Orange County, California Moorpark, California 50,225 —
2000 San Antonio, Texas James E. Taylor, Texas 52,470 —
2001 Anchorage, Alaska El Camino Real, California 46,547 —
2002 Phoenix, Arizona Waukesha West, Wisconsin 48,871 —
2003 Erie, Pennsylvania Moorpark, California 51,423.5 —
2004 Boise, Idaho El Camino Real, California 50,656.8 —
2005 Chicago, Illinois El Camino Real, California 49,009.4 —
2006 San Antonio, Texas W.H. Taft, California 51,659.7 —
2007 Honolulu, Hawaii El Camino Real, California 52,148.4 —
2008 Garden Grove, California Moorpark, California 53,119.4 Moorpark records the highest team score ever and beats the Wisconsin team, Waukesha West, by 23 points. Additionally, Alli Blonski of Waukesha West scores 9,321, then the highest individual score in the National Competition's history.
2009 Memphis, Tennessee Moorpark, California 51,289.5 —
2010 Omaha, Nebraska El Camino Real, California 49,951.7 —
2011 Charlotte, North Carolina Granada Hills Charter, California 52,113.5 —
2012 Albuquerque, New Mexico Granada Hills Charter, California 54,081 Granada Hills wins for the second year in a row, breaking 54,000 points for the first time. Jimmy Wu of Granada Hills is the first Varsity student to break the 9,000 point barrier. His teammate Sean Wejebe scores 9,441, a new record for the National Competition.
2013 Minneapolis, Minnesota Granada Hills Charter, California 51,319.6 Granada Hills wins for the third year in a row. They are the second public school (after JJ Pearce from Richardson, TX in 1984–1986) to win the national title three years in a row.
2014 Honolulu, Hawaii El Camino Real, California 52,601.1 El Camino Real's 7th title.
2015 Garden Grove, California Granada Hills Charter, California 53,592.30 Granada Hills's fourth title in five years.
2016 Anchorage, Alaska Granada Hills Charter, California 54,195.1 Granada Hills Charter wins fifth title in six years, and beats all-time record for highest score in the National Championship. Team member Melissa Santos also beats the record for highest individual score in the National Competition, with 9,511.3 points out of 10,000.
2017 Madison, Wisconsin Granada Hills Charter, California 54,507.7 Granada Hills Charter wins sixth title in seven years. Team member Melissa Santos beats her own record for highest individual score in the National Competition, with 9,551.4 points out of 10,000.
2018 Frisco, Texas El Camino Real, California 54,531.1 El Camino Real wins their eighth title with the highest ever team score.
2019 Bloomington, Minnesota Granada Hills Charter, California 53,108.5 Granada Hills Charter High School wins their seventh title.
2020 Cancelled (Originally Anchorage, Alaska) N/A N/A N/A
2021 Online (Originally Des Moines, Iowa) Granada Hills Charter, California 52,656.7 Granada Hills Charter High School wins their eighth title.
2022 Online (Originally Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Granada Hills Charter, California 52,383.2 Granada Hills Charter High School wins their ninth title.
2023 Frisco, Texas El Camino Real, California 49,121.6 El Camino Real wins their ninth title.
2024 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania El Camino Real, California 51,068.4 El Camino Real wins their tenth title.

References

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  51. ^ Rojas, Rick (April 28, 2012). "Granada Hills wins Academic Decathlon with record-breaking score". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 26, 2012. On Saturday, for the second year in a row, Granada Hills clinched the national title, outperforming 32 other teams. And this year — with a score of 54,081 points — the students claimed the highest score ever at the national competition.
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  58. ^ [3]. April 22, 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  59. ^ "Nationals - AcaDec Scores and Information Center". acadecscores.gilslotd.com. Retrieved 2023-05-08.

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