The Academic Decathlon, or Acadec for short, is a high school competition between students to complete in an academic-based competition. The competition consists of seven objectives and three subjectives. It encourages students to work with their peers against other schools throughout the nation.

The class, which is taught at Rancho Cucamonga High School during zero period, encourages students to work together in a variety of subjects by dividing them into three separate groups: Honors, Scholastic, and Varsity. 

These groups are divided based on one’s GPA, not based on one’s grade level. For instance, the Varsity group requires students to have a 0 – 2.99 GPA, Scholastic requires students to have a 3.0 – 3.74 GPA, and the Honors group requires a 3.75 – 4.0 GPA.

“I was actually in Academic Decathlon when I went to school [at RCHS],” said Ms. Elysa Martineau. “Mr. [John] Nath was my coach, and so when I started student teaching with him, [he encouraged me] to take over from him.”

Martineau, who not only teaches Acadec, also teaches grades 9 and 12 English. She has been teaching the class for six years, and has begun teaching the class immediately after Nath.

“We have section tests, where each of the packets we read, we’ll take those tests,” said Martineau. “I also teach them the math every year, the economics [etc.] We go over Music Theory, we talk about speeches and interviews and how to present yourself.”

“I’ve seen that we spend most of the class being able to learn concepts that might be hard to just read and learn on our own, and concepts we wouldn’t learn from our normal classes,”  Junior Robert Erickson said.

Erickson is one of the top students in the class, currently being in the Honors group. This is his first year in the class.

Joining a new class always has a different sense of acceptance, and for Erickson, he felt that the class was “like a community of people.”

Besides learning new skills, Acadec also provides students with better chances of college acceptance with college applications.

“[Acadec] definitely challenges you,” said senior Arlene Zhao, “but it’s an amazing experience and definitely a huge boost for college applications.”

Zhao has been in the class for three years now and assists in the class as the team builder. Team builders are those who help create a bond with each of the students and encourage them to work together.

The class allows students who feel that they may not be that academically intelligent to realize that they really are, and simply just need a push in the right path.

“I like how it allows a group of passionate students to come together and work together towards a goal,” said Zhao. “It allows students who aren’t stereotypically academically successful to show that they are actually very very smart.”

Eleventh grader Robert Erickson said  “I was walking up the stairs one day last year and Ms. Martineau was walking down the stairs as well and she said ‘Bobby, next year Academic Decathlon is going to be a zero period, so you will be able to take it, you are going to join’ when Ms. Martineau said this I was immediately convinced,” Erickson said.

“The idea of being able to learn so much, all the stuff we learn in Acadec was so appealing to me,” Erickson said.

What do you do in class? “So, in class, I’ve seen that we spend most the class being able to learn concepts that might be hard to just read and learn on our own and concepts we wouldn’t learn from our normal classes,” Erickson said.

How does the class make you feel? “Almost immediately from the first meetings, It felt like a community of people,” Erickson said.

Arlene Zhao, a senior said, “I like how it allows a group of passionate students to come together and work together towards a goal; it allows students who aren’t stereotypically academically successful to show that they are actually very very smart,” Zhao said.