El Rancho High School’s Academic Decathlon team made El Rancho history at their recent competitions, bringing home a total of 55 medals, two trophies, and one plaque, placing second overall and qualifying for state competition.

Academic decathlon is a rigorous scholastic team competition that tests students’ knowledge and skills against other school teams for gold, silver, and bronze medals. 

To form this impressive team, schools enter a total of nine students with varying GPAs ranging from 3.1 to 4.0. They are then challenged to use analytical skills, performance abilities, test-taking, and writing aptitude in 10 categories: Art, Economics, Essay, Interview, Language & Literature, Math, Music, Science, Social Science, and Speech.

From the hours upon hours of preparation to the final moments of the competitions, what do our decathletes need to do to feel confident in their skills and knowledge? “We Read, Read, Read!” says senior captain, Sarah Lugo.

Senior Ashley Tores, says “Preparing for the event has always been the most difficult time of decath because it’s just hours upon hours of studying and practice performance.” Sarah continues, “Preparing for the competition involves so much reading and studying and practice tests.” 

Although it may seem like it, decathlon doesn’t have to be stressful, although the day of competition can be nerve-wracking, it is also an exhilarating day that can be enjoyable for decathletes. Lugo says, “Performance day is so much fun. Super quiz is awesome and seeing everyone so excited is so thrilling. It is scary knowing you only have one chance to make your impression on the judges but everyone is there for one another, so it makes the experience less scary.” “The test day itself is nerve-wracking. But after the first couple tests you feel your work paying off and it gets easier, Lugo adds”

It seems as if our decathletes had nothing to worry about bringing home a medal for every category including gold in science, interview, and literature. On top of this two top decathlete medals and a plaque for the most improved. 

Junior and captain, Maya Elias,  says “I saw how dedicated and hard my teammates worked. So, hearing their names being called up one after the other made everything worth it.”

It was an especially important milestone for the seniors on the team, as they will be concluding this chapter of their lives in just a couple of months, so going out with one last bang was a nice touch. 

Torres says,  “It is one of my proudest moments seeing all our hard work pay off, and just really proud of my teammates and how far we’ve come.” Lugo said “Never did I think I was going to do something so amazing with my high school career but knowing I did is just a complete honor.”