Press Release

Date: February 14, 2011

For Immediate Release

THE NEBRASKA ACADEMIC DECATHLON STATE COMPETITION

On February 18 and 19, 2011 approximately 190 students from 18 high school teams will compete in the Nebraska State Academic Decathlon Competition to be held at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.  The following schools qualified in regional competition to advance to this statewide competition:  (See the attached list)

Academic Decathlon, the premiere national scholastic competition for high school students, was created to provide opportunities for students to experience the challenges of rigorous team and individual academic competition. Each student competes in ten events which are Economics, Essay, Art, Interview, Language and Literature, Math, Music, Social Science  Speech and the Super Quiz.  This year the Super Quiz will focus on geology and will include a case study on the Dust Bowl.  Family, friends, and the general public are welcome to observe the Super Quiz event that will begin at 2:15pm on Saturday in the Skutt Student Center.

The ten-event academic program strives to foster a greater respect for knowledge, to promote wholesome interschool academic competition, and to further develop student communication skills. A unique aspect of Academic Decathlon is that it is designed to include students from all academic ability and achievement levels. Each nine-member team consists of three “A” (Honors division), three “B” (Scholastic division), and three “C or below” (Varsity division) students.  Team members compete in 10 events against other students in their individual divisions, however, team scores are calculated using the top two individual scores from each division to arrive at an overall team score.

Gold, silver, and bronze medals are awarded for individual events and total scores.  Overall individual winners are recognized as well as champion teams.  The top 3 teams from large and small school divisions earn higher educational scholarships.  The Nebraska State champions’ will compete in the National finals April 27-30, 2011 in Charlotte, NC.   The top scoring medium and small school division teams will also compete in a National online final event.

A new curricular theme is established every year with topics that are relevant, current and challenging. This year’s theme is “The Great Depression.”  Students will compose an essay based on a prompt whose central theme incorporates information relating to the current curriculum, as well as, perform a prepared speech and impromptu speech, and participate in an interview before a panel of community volunteer judges. The Academic Decathlon emphasizes the personal and academic growth of each student who, by meeting the challenges with honesty and integrity, can reap the rewards of greater self-knowledge and self-confidence for the future.

The Nebraska Academic Decathlon program is sponsored by Optimist Clubs of Nebraska and Creighton University.  The Decathlon is funded through donations to the non-profit (501c3) Nebraska Academic Decathlon Foundation.  In addition, the infrastructure support of Creighton University, the school team coaches, and our many capable volunteers (primarily Nebraska Optimist Club members), make the state competition and preliminary events possible. 

Media contact information:

Name: Dr. John Anstey

Title: State Executive Director

Address: 2175 N 124th Ave. Circle

                Omaha, NE  68164

Phone number: (402) 498-0798

Email: jranstey@ne-ad.org

Web:  www.ne-ad.org