AcaDeca students place first in Science Bowl

On Feb. 24, Samo’s Academic Decathlon team placed first at the Ocean Sciences Bowl Regional Competition. Succeeding in this competition was no easy task; it took hours upon hours of preparation. However, the five competing students -- Derek Wen (’19), Ryu Akiba (’18), Nanki Chugh (’18), Addie Lloyd (’18) and Josh Sheng (’18) -- were ready to take on the task.  The Academic Decathlon team, or AcaDeca team, meets every day during their AM period with advisor Ingo Gaida. These students commit to rigorous methods of preparation to insure that they are ready for their competitions.  “I give them stuff to study, they take test on it, and then we go over it,” Gaida said. “Then we also practice a lot in class [and] outside of class. We had one day where we had a whole day of practice. There are two components: learning the stuff and then being good at buzzing; we practice both of those things a lot.”  Gaida chooses the team through several competitions held during the class period. Students compete against each other on tests and through buzzer competitions. Students that excel the most are chosen to be a part of the team, each representing a certain section.  “We pick the best geology person, the best biology person, the best physical person and then the best social chemistry person,” Gaida said.  Team member Derek Wen (’19) describes the competition process. “The moderator reads a ‘toss up’, which both teams buzz in to answer and the team that answers correctly gets an additional ‘bonus question’ specifically for their team,” Wen said.  From that point, teams compete head-to-head to reach top brackets and eventually move on to Nationals, which are set to be held on Apr. 21-22 at the University of Colorado Boulder. Until then, the team will be working hard to get prepared for the next competition.