KCSOS : News & Events : A challenging day for Decathlon

A challenging day for Decathlon

February 1, Academic Decathlon Saturday at Bakersfield College, started out under gloomy conditions with heavy fog causing two of the participating 23 Kern County high schools to arrive a half hour late. Officials would not start the event until they got there giving all the participants a fair chance. Approximately two hours before that, the United States lost seven of its astronauts in a horrific explosion aboard the space shuttle Columbia as it was descending for a landing. The Decathlon went on but many students admitted focusing was a little tougher.

Ironically, one of the questions that came up during the last of 10 events that day, the Super Quiz, dealt with a space shuttle as one of the possible answers. Question 25 asked,"Which ship conducted one of the earliest systematic studies of the world's oceans?" The correct answer was "Challenger." Wasco Union High was leading the competition at the time and got the right answer.

"We had learned earlier in the morning what had happened to Columbia," said Wasco team member Tina Sandhu. "When that question came up on the screen, we had mixed emotions knowing the answer was right but also feeling the sense of tragedy for the crew of Columbia. It was just really hard."

Wasco went on to finish in a third place tie with Mojave High in Super Quiz and finished sixth overall for the day.

Super Quiz is a 45-question event featuring all of the teams competing against each other with scores kept on flip cards. Team members and audience react loudly when the scores change. In a very tight battle, Stockdale High won, the first time it had ever won Super Quiz in the history of the school. Stockdale students were not aware of the Columbia disaster. Coach Dave Brewer had purposefully not mentioned it to avoid distracting the team. Amid a wild celebration, Stockdale team member Jessica Koh finally heard the news.

"I don't know whether to be happy or sad anymore," Koh said.

It is doubtful that any of those who competed will forget what happened.

Winning the decathlon is tough under any circumstances. Students compete individually in three categories: Honor for "A" students, Scholastic for "B" and Varsity for "C" with scores added to team totals to determine winners. The events are Art, Economics, Social Science, Language and Literature, Mathematics, Music, Speech, Interviewing, Essay and Super Quiz.

Highland High School, which finished fourth, brought its "Spam Trophy" adorned with cans of Spam and action figures for good luck. "We're not sure how it originated or how old the trophy is, but it has followed us to many academic competitions," said Highland team member Jacob Ceccarelli. "We all rub the Spam can for good luck before competing."

Bakersfield High (BHS) won the overall team championship for the fourth consecutive year, taking team honors in eight of the 10 events. BHS will represent Kern County at the California Academic Decathlon competition March 7-9 in Modesto. The state winner advances to the national finals April 23-26 in Erie, PA.

Kern County Superintendent of Schools Larry E. Reider put the day in perspective when he addressed the students during the decathlon awards ceremony.

"I hope you share my belief that the best way we can honor the sacrifices of these brave astronauts is to do what they did -- dare to dream," Reider said. "And dare to make a difference. You are among the best and brightest students in our county."

2003 KERN ACADEMIC DECATHLON RESULTS

Overall Team Results

1. Bakersfield High 2. Stockdale High 3. Mojave High 4. Highland High 5. Arvin High 6. Wasco Union High 7. Delano High 8. West High 9. Rosamond High 10.(tie)Frazier Mountain High and Kern Valley High

Super Quiz

1. Stockdale High 2. Bakersfield High 3. (tie) Mojave and Wasco Union highs

Overall Student Winners

Those accumulating the most points based on nine events were:

Honor:
First - Albert Kao - Stockdale High
Second - Jeff Lin - Bakersfield High
Third - Grace Liu - Bakersfield High

Scholastic:
First - Stephen Sharratt - Bakersfield High
Second - Blake Palla - Bakersfield High
Third - Mark Mitchell - Bakersfield High

Varsity:
First - Clay Telfer - Bakersfield High
Second - Nick Veith - Bakersfield High
Third - Phillip Burch - Bakersfield High

Individual Student Events Winners:

ESSAY

Honor:
First - Colin Brown - Tehachapi High
Second - Tamima Mohammed - Stockdale High
Third - (tie) Paul Soto - Tehachapi High and Adam Ojeda - Arvin High

Scholastic:
First - Allison Aubin - Burroughs High
Second - (tie) Michael Loeffel - Stockdale High and Ojore Jones - Rosamond High
Third - (tie) Brandy Worden - Tehachapi High, Cassandra Heller - Frazier Mountain High andCynthia Martinez - Arvin High

Varsity:
First - Juanita Flores - Arvin High
Second - Paul Krueger - Highland High
Third - (tie) David Melendez - Rosamond High and Amanda Galindo - Stockdale High

SPEECH

Honor:
First - Grace Liu - Bakersfield High
Second - Caitlin Butterfield - Wasco Union High
Third - Mark Booc - Delano High

Scholastic:
First - (tie) Ashley Alius - Mojave High, Ojore Jones - Rosamond High and Laura Yoon - Highland High
Second - Benjamin Ohlinger - West High
Third - Holly Bishop - Mojave High

Varsity:
First - Clay Telfer - Bakersfield High
Second - Phillip Burch - Bakersfield High
Third - Robert Warren - Mojave High

INTERVIEW

Honor:
First - Jacob Ceccarelli - Highland High
Second - Grace Liu - Bakersfield High
Third - Rebecca Stellato - Garces High

Scholastic:
First - Ana Contreras - East High
Second - Cynthia Martinez - Arvin High
Third - Valarie Cortez - Shafter High

Varsity:
First - Clay Telfer - Bakersfield High
Second - Tristen Lopez - Stockdale High
Third - (tie) Sonnet Welling - Boron High and Phillip Burch - Bakersfield High

LANGUAGE and LITERATURE

Honor:
First - Jeff Lin - Bakersfield High
Second - Albert Kao - Stockdale High
Third - (tie) Caitlynn Spangle - Mojave High, Nick Dickson - Bakersfield High and Grace Liu - Bakersfield High

Scholastic:
First - (tie) Laura Yoon - Highland High and Stephen Sharratt - Bakersfield High
Second - (tie) Brandy Worden - Tehachapi High and Cassandra Heller - Frazier Mountain High
Third - (tie) Katherine Herrera - Delano High and Blake Palla - Bakersfield High

Varsity:
First - Clay Telfer - Bakersfield High
Second - Nick Veith - Bakersfield High
Third - America Calderon - Wasco Union High

MUSIC

Honor:
First - Albert Kao - Stockdale High
Second - Jeff Lin - Bakersfield High
Third - (tie) Brian Davis - Highland High and Steven McCutcheon - West High

Scholastic:
First - (tie) Michael Loeffel - Stockdale High and Stephen Sharratt - Bakersfield High
Second - Stephen Klancher - Stockdale High
Third - Blake Palla - Bakersfield High

Varsity:
First - Nick Veith - Bakersfield High
Second - Phillip Burch - Bakersfield High
Third - Lucy Nicholls - Delano High

ART

Honor:
First - Steven McCutcheon - West High
Second - Jeff Lin - Bakersfield High
Third - Grace Liu - Bakersfield High

Scholastic:
First - Stephen Sharratt - Bakersfield High
Second - Mark Mitchell - Bakersfield High
Third - Humberto Solis - Wasco Union High

Varsity:
First - America Calderon - Wasco Union High
Second - Clay Telfer - Bakersfield High
Third - (tie) Angela Smith - Mojave High and Nick Veith - Bakersfield High

ECONOMICS

Honor:
First - Daniel Ross - Kern Valley High
Second - Albert Kao - Stockdale High
Third - Jacob Ceccarelli - Highland High

Scholastic:
First - Stephen Sharratt - Bakersfield High
Second - Robert Greer - Highland High
Third - Mark Mitchell - Bakersfield High

Varsity:
First - (tie) Clay Telfer - Bakersfield High and Matt Bosch - South High
Second - Nick Veith - Bakersfield High
Third - Lucy Nicholls - Delano High

MATHEMATICS

Honor:
First - Brian Davis - Highland High
Second - Albert Kao - Stockdale High
Third - Jessica Koh - Stockdale High

Scholastic:
First - Stephen Sharratt - Bakersfield High
Second - Blake Palla - Bakersfield High
Third - (tie) Michael Loeffel - Stockdale High and Robert Greer - Highland High

Varsity:
First - Clay Telfer - Bakersfield High
Second - Nick Veith - Bakersfield High
Third - (tie) Angela Smith - Mojave High and Phillip Burch - Bakersfield High

SOCIAL SCIENCE

Honor:
First - (tie) Daniel Ross - Kern Valley High and Jacob Ceccarelli - Highland High
Second - Jourdan Carrido - West High
Third - (tie) Steven McCutcheon - West High, Caitlin Butterfield - Wasco Union High, Caitlynn Spangle - Mojave High and Eric Ford - Burroughs High

Scholastic:
First - Stephen Sharratt - Bakersfield High
Second - (tie) Stephen Klancher - Stockdale High and Evan Sanford - Shafter High
Third - (tie) Michael Loeffel - Stockdale High and Christopher Reagan - West High

Varsity:
First - Charles Hice - Wasco Union High
Second - Clay Telfer - Bakersfield High
Third - (tie) America Calderon - Wasco Union High and Matt Bosch - South High

Academic Decathlon Gold Circle sponsors were Bakersfield College and California State University, Bakersfield. ChevronTexaco was the Silver Circle sponsor and Dr and Mrs. G.B. Haeri and the University of California, Merced, Bronze sponsors . The event is co-sponsored by the Kern County Academic Decathlon Association and the Kern County Superintendent of Schools.
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