Whitney Young HS Earns State Champion Honors In Decathlon

Whitney Young Magnet High School has been named the Illinois Academic Decathlon State champs after winning the competition Monday.

Held at Northeastern Illinois University, high school teams from across the state came to compete. At the state event, students received scores for five objective tests including speech, interview and Super Quiz™ Relay. The essay test and two other objective tests were completed online earlier in February.

The competition includes students from all academic ability and achievement levels. Each nine-member team consists of three Honor students (3.750 – 4.00 GPA), three Scholastic students (3.000 – 3.749 GPA) and three Varsity students (0.00 – 2.999 GPA).

Each student competes in 10 events: Art, Economics, Essay, Interview, Literature, Math, Music, Science, Social Science and Speech. Students also compete in the Super Quiz™ Relay, an oral quiz-show event that includes questions from six topic areas.

State championship honors went to Whitney Young with a score of 47,943.3. They will represent Illinois at the United States Academic Decathlon National Competition in Frisco, Texas April 19–21.

Second place went to Lane Tech College Prep with a score of 45,892.2 and third place went to Northside College Prep with a score of 33,509.8.

Each year there’s a new theme selected with topics that are relevant, current and challenging. This year’s theme was Africa. Next year’s topic is The 1960s: A Transformational Decade.

Each team member competes in all of the 10 events against other students in their individual divisions, and team scores are calculated using the top two individual scores from each division. Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded for individual events and overall scores.

Six students also performed in a judge-selected Speech Showcase.

This year’s Speech Showcase presenters were Joseph Radinsk and Conal Abatangelo, Whitney Young; Maggie Reed, Mother McAuley; Grace Aldrin, Lane Tech; Jesse De Leeuw, Von Steuben; and Tanai Hague, Northside.

The event concluded with an awards ceremony.

Interested in learning more about how to start an Illinois Academic Decathlon® team in your school? Please contact Joyce Swenson (507) 389-5107. ILAD offers incentives for new teams, including free curriculum for the first year with a two-year commitment.