SOUTH CENTRAL SERVICE COOPERATIVE

Academic Decathletes Exercise
Serious Mental-Muscle at State Competition
By Elyse Anderson

Two days. Ten events. One-thousand, seven-hundred and ninety-five questions. Essay. Speech. Interview. Would you be up to the challenge?

Fifty-one students from south central Minnesota accepted this challenge, the Academic Decathlon, with confidence. They represented teams from Avalon Charter School, Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, Lakeville, Mankato East, Mankato West, Red Rock, and St. Peter, who attended the 2008 Minnesota Academic Decathlon State Competition held in Mankato on February 25 and 26.

The 2008 competition tested students’ knowledge of the Civil War through Essay, Science, Mathematics, Language and Literature, Economics, Art, Music, Super Quiz, and Super Quiz Relay. Decathletes were given 30 minutes to complete each test, which contained 50 questions. Students were also scored on essays submitted prior to the competition, prepared and impromptu speeches, and an interview. Teams include students with A (Honors), B (Scholastic), and C (Varsity) grade point averages. Students compete against other students in their division. Top scorers in each division for each event receive medals for first, second and third places. The combination of decathletes scores creates the overall team placement in the competition.

The winner of the State Competition will go on to National Competition in California this April. Representing Minnesota at the National Academic Decathlon will be Mankato West! Avalon Charter School placed second and St. Peter High School placed third. They will have the opportunity to compete nationally online with schools of the same size.

This year’s state competition revealed some truly outstanding students, with two students from Mankato West scoring over 7,000 points out of a possible 10,000. Travis Swenson scored 7,085.9 points and Sam Mickle scored 7,327.7 points, both earning gold medals in their respective divisions.

MNAD Competition Events
Interview
In the interview competition, students are scored by two judges during a seven-minute interview. Judges asked such questions as: How do you prepare for Academic Decathlon? Where do you see yourself five years from now? What extra-curricular activities are you involved in? Who inspires you? Students are scored on their listening and answering skills, appearance, voice, language, manner and responses.

Speech
During the speech competition, each student is scored by two judges on their prepared speech as well as an impromptu speech. Each student is asked to prepare a 3.5- to 4-minute speech on the topic of their choice. This year’s prepared speech topics ranged from ice fishing and tennis to adolescent sleep deprivation and terrorism. After completing their prepared speech, students had 60 seconds to review three impromptu speech prompts and prepare a 1.5- to 2-minute speech. Judges then scored their performance, keeping in mind the difficult task of creating a thoughtful, organized presentation in just 60 seconds.

After hearing all of the speeches, each judge was asked to select two students to present their speech the next day in front of all of the teams and coaches in the Speech Showcase. The students who were chosen were:

• Haley Bayer — Mankato East
• Lucas Melby — Mankato West
• Rachel Sandstrom — Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial
• Tanner Jaeger — St. Peter
• Sam Mickle — Mankato West
• Sophia Anastazievsky — Avalon Charter School

For a complete listing of scores, please visit: www.mnscsc.org/student_outreach/mnad/ad.html.

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Super QuizTM Relay — Test Yourself!
Below are a few questions from the Super Quiz Relay. You have 10 seconds to answer each question.

1. The Thirteenth Amendment cleared both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives by the end of 1864, but did not become part of the Constitution until a year later after being
a. vetoed and then overridden by Congress
b. delayed in the courts by many lawsuits
c. ratified by the requisite number of states
d. voted on as a national referendum
e. approved by the Supreme Court

2. It was in this battle that General Thomas Jackson earned his nickname “Stonewall.”
a. Second Battle of Bull Run
b. Antietam
c. Fredericksburg
d. First Battle of Bull Run
e. Chancellorsville

3.Which of the following BEST describes President Andrew Johnson’s status and power after impeachment?
a. little power and reduced to lame duck status
b. no power, as he was removed from office
c. more powerful, as impeachment failed
d. very popular and dominating Reconstruction
e. just as powerful and still in full control

4. All of the following techniques were used by white Southerners in Mississippi to prevent blacks from voting EXCEPT:
a. having armed men present at polling booths
b. successful appeal through the State courts
c. instigating riots where blacks were killed
d. armed militias marching through black areas
e. breaking up Republican political meetings

5. In the election of 1860, what percentage of the electorate did NOT vote for Abraham Lincoln?
a. more than 60 percent
b. less than 30 percent
c. more than 70 percent
d. about 50 percent
e. more than 65 percent

Answers
1. a 2. d 3. a 4. b 5. a

Next SCSC News Article: The Minnesota Service Cooperatives: Working Together in the Spirit of Cooperation