Acadeca wins third place at regional competition

Samo’s Academic Decathlon (Acadeca) has enjoyed recent success in a number of academic competitions. The Science Bowl team took third place at a regional competition at the Pasadena Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Jan. 31, and the Quiz Bowl team was also awarded third place at Arcadia High School on Feb. 21.The Science and Quiz Bowls are jeopardy style tournaments that consist of 24 schools and students in teams of four. The questions in the science bowl alternate from biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, astronomy, math and energy while the Quiz Bowl involves questions of all types of knowledge — history, literature, science, mythology, religion, pop culture, music and art.“We split it up [the topics], so we have an expert in each category,” Acadeca adviser Ingo Gaida said.Gaida prepares students by testing them every three weeks on new sets of material with written exams and in-class buzzer games. When the competition date arrives closer, Acadeca has after-school practices that last two and a half hours. In doing so, they are well prepared for the competitions.“They wanted to win [in both competitions], but they were happy to have made it to the stage level where they can participate on the stage in front of everybody,” Gaida said regarding their third place win. “[They were] satisfied that they made it that far. Last year they had made it in eighth place [for the science bowl], so we did better."According to George Poon (’15), the Quiz Bowl was less about winning first place and more about team building and gaining experience.“As the team captain I find myself learning more about the world and what I can do to engage in it," Poon said. “I certainly think there is room for improvement, but overall I had a lot of fun with my teammates, and am extremely thankful for the experience.”