Academic Decathlon advances to State

El Rancho’s Academic Decathlon team finished 7th in Los Angeles County and plans to move forward to the state competition in March. They will compete in Santa Clara from March 24 to 26. 

 Academic Decathlon attended their regional banquet, held at Quiet Canyon, in Montebello, CA on February 23. Students who achieved high honors in their categories were presented with special awards along with team awards.

A special congratulations to the following students for their academic excellence in the competition: Sarah Lugo(11th): Gold in Art, Gold in Interview (perfect score), and Silver in Speech; Manuel Navarro(11th): Bronze in Essay and Bronze in Literature; Ashley Torres (11th): Bronze in Interview and Silver in Speech; Lorelei Rojo(12th): Silver in Interview, Gold in Speech (perfect score (spoke at the banquet, first time El Rancho has asked a student), a and highest scoring decathlete on the team (Gold); Maya Elias (10th): Silver in Essay and Silver in Interview; Miguel Ignacio(11th): Bronze in Interview; Stephanie Alfaro(12th): Silver in Essay; and Alessandro Franco (11th): Gold in Math.  

The Academic Decathlon team competed by taking seven subject tests, taking a Super Quiz, writing an essay, performing a prepared and impromptu speech, and an interview. This specific competition was a 3-day competition. First, on January 28, they performed their Speech and Interview. On February 1st, they wrote their 50-minute essay. On February 4th, they took seven tests, 50 questions for each test, besides Math with 35.

And special congratulations to the Decathlon advisor, Mr. Francis, on their achievement of making it to State came as a pleasant surprise. “It was exciting,” Francis said. “We were originally told that they [LA county] were only going to take two teams from the county, and we didn’t think we had much of and chance. We were thrilled and surprised to find out they were taking more.”

Decathlon Captain Lorelei Rojo felt great about her team and their success. “It felt amazing to make state. We were really nervous because we didn’t get the opportunity to travel up north last year when we made state. The fact that we get to travel for the first time since 2019 was really exciting.”

The Decathlete’s hard work shall not go unnoticed.  “Our Decathletes put in a tremendous amount of work,” said Francis. “We started last summer. We meet every day during the 0 period and on Mondays, which is not an official 0 period day. In the 1st semester alone, the students had over 200 assignments. Students are very very dedicated and they have a lot of work to do.”

Rojo’s hard work paid off. She achieved silver in interview, a gold in speech, and was the highest-scoring decathlete on the team. She even spoke at the Banquet, being one of seven kids in LA county to score a perfect in her speech. “Even though we work a lot, it is all worth it in the end. By the end of March we are done with everything and have time to relax.” Rojo said. 

 Congratulations to the decathletes for making it to state and good luck in the future!