Academic Decathon A Success!

Our first Annual Academic Decathlon was held on Saturday, March 24, 2007. The members from Bryant, Heritage, Rosita, Russell, Skylark, and Zeyen have been studying since October 2006. The students studied 10 subject areas: Math, Language Arts, Literature, Science, Social Studies, Geography, Music, Spelling and Art. They also read the first Harry Potter book for a Super Quiz. We divided the testing into two days. On March 22nd was the first set of tests. The first portion consisted of Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Geography and Literature. The members were nervous taking the tests, but relieved that it was over.

The second portion was on March 24th. This part was the interactive part of the decathlon. It was held at the University of California Irvine. We partnered with Alpha Omega Phi. Upon arrival the children took a tour of the campus. After the tour we began testing for that day which was held in the Crystal Cove Auditorium. The tests consisted of: Music, Art, Super Quiz and Spelling Bee. The audience was a mixture of parents, teachers and staff. Most of them enjoyed the Spelling Bee, which took place in the afternoon.

Our Award Ceremony was phenomenal! Our CPO Pat Halberstadt kindly donated Barnes and Noble gift cards to all participants of the decathlon. She also gave an additional gift cards to our 1st, 2nd, 3rd place participants and finally the overall school winner received a $100.00 dollar gift card. Thank you, Pat! Congratulations to Zeyen Elementary, they won the Harry Potter Super Quiz. Heritage Elementary won the overall Academic Decathlon. The children were surprised and gracious. The competition was very close for 1st place; we would like to congratulate Skylark Elementary for studying just as hard. There were only a few points from winning the overall decathlon.

Here are the names of our high score winners:

4th Grade
Heritage: Julie N.
Zeyen: Justin H.
Heritage: Gabrielle E.

5th Grade
Skylark: Siliva G.
Skylark: Jenna H.
Heritage: Kenny N.

6th Grade
Zeyen: Sabrina C.
Skylark: Karlany M.
Russell: Antonia D.

We would personally like to thank all of the parents, teachers, and staff who support our event. We would especially like to thank Alpha Omega Phi for helping put this decathlon together. This event would not have been a success without the help of our coordinators, who developed the study guides and the tests. Thanks to all of the instructors for their dedication to assisting the children with their studies. We hope to see all of you next year!!