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Contact: John Anstey PhD Phone (402) 498-0798 JRANSTEY@aol.com |
2175 N 124th Ave. Circle Omaha, NE 68164 |
Nebraska Academic Decathlon |
Press Release
Date: February 16, 2009
For Immediate Release
THE NEBRASKA ACADEMIC DECATHLON STATE COMPETITION
On February 20 and 21, 2009 approximately 200 students from 19 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, Science, Social Science and Speech. Each year the Science or Social Science topic is used for the Super Quiz topic. The topic this year will be "An Introduction to Evolutionary Biology." 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 broad base of awards allows for major recognition of academic accomplishment. Teams advance through local, regional and state levels of competition. The state champions’ will compete at the national finals. This year’s national event will take place April 22–25, 2009 in Memphis, Tennessee.
A new
curricular theme is established every year with topics that are relevant, current and challenging. This year’s theme is "Latin America," with a particular focus on Mexico. 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@aol.com