The Methacton Academic Decathlon Team will move on to the state competition from March 9-10 at Clarion University after they took second place at the regional competition on Feb. 3.  The team upset previous PA State champion North Penn, winning 16 medals including five golds.

This is the first time in more than 15 years that Methacton will go to states. 

“It seems so surreal. I’m super proud of our team and would like to thank Mr. Outland for all of his guidance and help,” said Methacton club vice president Jonathan Cheng about his experience and the team’s sponsor. Cheng won gold in math at regionals.

Other regional winners included the following students: Chosha Bai, silver in math; Shelton Bai, silver in music, gold in math, gold in social science, bronze in economics, and bronze in science; Preeti Bobba, bronze in literature, silver in math, and silver in social science; Amy Lu, silver in essay, and gold in math; Isabelle Rochon, bronze in essay, bronze in music, gold in social science, and bronze in economics.

Academic Decathlon, one of the nation’s premier academic competitions for high school students, is unlike others of its kind in that the club encourages students of varying GPA ranges—from A to C—to compete.

Divided into A, B and C average teams, teams are presented with a designated topic, after which they attempt to master 10 different skill areas that revolve around that subject matter. This year’s focus is Africa.

Decathletes learned about infectious diseases prevalent in Africa, African economic history, art and music in different African regions, as well as other topics. Next year’s topic will be The 1960s.

Competitions consist of seven multiple choice tests, two performance events—a speech and an interview—and an essay.

The Methacton team said it is looking for new members for next year’s season. Any interested students should contact Mr. Outland at [email protected].