MINNESOTA ACADEMIC DECATHLON

Mankato West & St. Peter High Schools Represent Minnesota in USAD National Competitions

Mankato West High School represented Minnesota at national competition April 25–29 in Honolulu, Hawaii, placing seventh out of 13 in the Division II schools and 21st out of 39 teams overall. Congratulations to Travis Swenson who was the highest scoring team member from Mankato West. First place honors at the National competition went to El Camino Real High School from California. “China and Its Influence on the World” was the theme for 2006–2007 competitions, with the Super Quiz focus on “An Introduction to Climatology.”

St. Peter High School earned the right to represent Minnesota via the second “national online virtual competition” for small schools competing against 20 schools across the country. St. Peter scored 24,211 to finish in seventh place (299 points out of fifth place) behind University HS from California who scored 31,470 for first place honors. (Students competing virtually did not have the opportunity to participate in the interview, speech or oral super quiz relay.)

The following St. Peter students earned medals in the virtual competition: Mara Johnson-Groh, competing in the Honors division earned a silver medal in Art with a score of 820; Karl Hailperin, competing in the Scholastic division, earned a gold medal in Math with a score of 429, gold medal in Economics with a score of 880, and bronze in Art with a score of 720; and Kelly Henrichs, competing in the Scholastic division, earned a gold medal in Art with a score of 760 and a silver medal in Math with a score of 400.

Mankato West High School and St. Peter High School earned the honor to represent Minnesota in the state large school division at the MN State Academic Decathlon Competition this March in Brainerd. In the small school division Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial High School earned first place honors. Participating high schools included Avalon School, Lake Crystal-Wellcome-Memorial, Lakeville, MACCRAY, Mankato East, Mankato West, Red Rock Central, St. Peter, and Windom. For a complete listing of team and individual place winners, please visit the MN Academic Decathlon website at: www.mnscsc.org/student_outreach/mnad/ad.html and click on “state scores”.

The competition theme for 2007–2008 is “The Civil War” with the Super Quiz focus on the Civil War from a social science perspective. The 2008 USAD national competition will be held April 30–May 3 in Garden Grove, California. Please visit the USAD website at www.usad.org for curriculum information.

If you are interested in learning more about the Minnesota Academic Decathlon, or want to learn how to become a coach, sponsor or volunteer? Please visit: www.mnscsc.org /Minnesota Academic Decathlon or call: Wanda Sommers Wall, MNAD State Director at 507.389.1076.