The way Academic Decathlon competitions work is a theme is chosen for the the decathletes to compete on, after studying the subject the decathletes go to Kansas State University, they give a one minute speech on the spot about the theme subject. The decathletes then go to a room were they take ten tests.

“Academic Decathlon promotes scholarship in multiple academic areas, diverse viewpoints, presentation and interview skills, and team building,” coach Linda Collins said.

Students from schools from all around the state compete to match their intellects in 10 different areas; Art, Economics, Essays, interview, Language and Literature, Mathematics, Music science, Speech and Social science.

If students win an individual event, they can then be awarded a bronze, silver or gold medal. The winner of these competitions advance through the local, regional, and state level competition.

The Academic Decathlon team doesn’t to it all by themselves they are given the material to learn and aided by their Academic Decathlon educators. At Blue Valley Southwest the co-coaches of the Academic Decathlon team Linda Collins and Jacque Cork both worked with the Decathletes to lift them up to the state title.

Academic Decathlon is a competitive team that some do take seriously, but they just don’t seem to get the recognition that they deserve.