By JULES SLATER
SPRING MILLS — On Friday, Jan. 31, high school students from eight central Pennsylvania school districts — Penns Valley, Bellefonte, Philipsburg-Osceola, Carlisle, South Williamsport, Moshannon Valley, Glendale and Montoursville — competed in the annual Pennsylvania Academic Decathlon (PAAD) Central Region District competition at Penns Valley High School.
Students competed in 10 areas, in accordance with the U.S. Academic Decathlon: essay, social science, literature, music, math, economics, art, science, speech and interview.
Sarah Farrant, one of two Academic Decathlon coaches at Penns Valley, first got involved in the event in 2001 when she stepped in as a substitute coach for a competition. She has been coaching steadily since 2004. According to Farrant, who is also the PAAD Central Region Director, students are split into three categories based on their grade-point average in major subjects from the previous two years. These categories are Honors (3.8-4.0 GPA), Scholastic (3.2-3.7 GPA) and Varsity (up to 3.1 GPA).
“Each team has nine students, and scores are based on the top two scorers in each category. Add those scores together, and that gives you a team score out of 60,000 points,” Farrant explained. “The top score any one student can get is 10,000 because each of the 10 categories is worth 1,000 points.”
Throughout the day, students competed in 30-minute multiple choice tests in social science, literature, music, economics, art, science and math. The math test consisted of 35 questions, while all other categories included 50 questions. Students also participated in the essay category — a 50-minute session during which students choose between three unknown prompts.
Following the tests and essay, students delivered a prepared and impromptu speech to a panel of judges and participated in a mock interview. Interviewers and speech judges were members of the Centre County community, many of whom volunteer year after year.
Each year, the U.S. Academic Decathlon is organized around a singular topic, this year’s being “Our Changing Climate.” Farrant shared that in the literature category, the novel and shorter selections revolved around that topic, as did music and art pieces, and science and social science questions in those categories.
For Gail O’Donald, a senior at Penns Valley High School and a two-year participant of the Academic Decathlon, this year’s topic is significant.
“I have always been very conscientious about climate change,” they shared. “I remember in fourth grade; we did genius hour projects and presentations about something we were passionate about. I picked global warming, and it’s cool to see how that topic has been a constant throughout my life.”
O’Donald added that “[Academic Decathlon] is good because the subjects aren’t very specific. They can include a lot of media to raise awareness about different histories and movements.”
This year, O’Donald noted that Indigenous people, native land and environmental feminism were key focuses of the literature exam.
O’Donald was the second-highest scorer in the Honors division at the District competition on Friday, Jan. 31. With a score of 7,209, they were the third-highest scorer overall, behind an Honors student from Carlisle in second and a Scholastic student from Penns Valley in first place.
“There’s a really good community to be found in [Academic Decathlon]. Everyone is very supportive, and it’s a lot of fun,” O’Donald commented.
When asked about coaching, Farrant replied “It has to come from the students. I try to identify students that I think don’t know about this, … [or] whose grades might not be reflective of their potential and I try to convince those kids to give it a try.”
Farrant believes Academic Decathlon is “a really good way for kids to prepare for college. And beyond college, having the opportunity to do speech and interview prepares them for any kind of public speaking and interviewing.”
Farrant loves hearing feedback from graduates that Academic Decathlon gave them confidence and prepared them for being out in the world.
The final event on Friday, Jan. 31, Super Quiz Relay, saw Honors, Scholastic and Varsity students compete head-to-head in category-related trivia. The winning team, Carlisle High School, was awarded the Martha Nastus trophy, named for longtime Bellefonte Academic Decathlon coach who Farrant noted was “really good at generating enthusiasm for Academic Decathlon.”
The Central Region dedicated the revolving trophy to Nastus in 2016, years after her retirement, to acknowledge her contributions to the Central Region.
After Friday’s District competition, Carlisle ranked first with a score of 35,755. Penns Valley was second with 35,529 points. Philipsburg-Osceola came in third with 31,037 points. Montoursville was fourth with 30,648 points, and South Williamsport ranked fifth with a score of 29,145 points.
These five teams will advance to the PAAD State Championship in Royersford on Friday, March 14 and Saturday, March 15, where all but Carlisle High School will compete in the Small School category.
Carlisle will compete against other large schools. Nationals will be held in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday, May 1, through Monday, May 3, and will feature the top small, medium and large schools from each participating state.
