Oakdale High School has once again proven victorious in the area of academics, as the OHS Aca Dec team earned a first runner-up position in the 39th Annual Stanislaus County Academic Decathlon hosted on Saturday, Feb. 2 at Johansen High School.
The competing team of Ryan Kummer, Jean Pagaduan, Caroline Krum, Tayler Downing, Jacob Smith, Jaime Cuevas, John Creech, Chris Cerda and Jaden Alvarez also proved ready for the pressure of ‘live’ testing as they secured the First Place honor as the Super Quiz Winner.
“They really did work hard,” Aca Dec Team Coach Dee Hawksworth said, following the competition. “This team worked as hard as they could have and I was really excited about the Super Quiz. That’s not usually one of our strengths.”
Hawksworth went on to share the excitement as well as pride she felt for the young competing team as she watched them confer with one another during the Super Quiz on Saturday. The Super Quiz is the only live audience portion of the academic contest.
“The kids conferring and the paddles going up with those right answers,” she said, “that was really exciting.”
The team will not learn until this Thursday, Feb. 7 if their total point score of 42,012 is enough to take them to state with event winner Hughson to represent Stanislaus County.
“I think we did a really good showing and I think Hughson had a strong team,” Hawksworth said of the Hughson win, with a total of 44,532 overall points.
As is customary Hawksworth meets with the team for a debriefing the Monday following the competition. She reported the team was tired, but proud. The weeks of late night studying and long day Saturday, which begins for the team at 5 a.m. with breakfast and concludes well after 7 p.m. had indeed caught up. During the debriefing event, however, Hawksworth shared the team was both encouraging of one another and “all over the place” on areas where they felt they could improve for next year.
“They worked really hard,” the coach said. “I’m really proud of them.”
Awards were given in the following areas:
Top Score for Essay: Jean Pagaduan, Honors Silver.
Top Score for Speech: Caroline Krum, Honors Gold and Ryan Kummer Honors Fourth Place.
Top Score for Interview: Christopher Cerda, Varsity Silver.
Top Score Mathematics: Jacob Smith, Scholastic Gold; Jaime Cuevas Vazquez, Scholastic Bronze; Tayler Downing, Scholastic Fourth Place and Christopher Cerda, Varsity Fifth Place.
Top Score Economics: Ryan Kummer, Honors Gold; Jaime Cuevas Vazquez, Scholastic Silver; Tayler Downing, Scholastic Bronze; Jacob Smith, Scholastic Bronze; Christopher Cerda, Varsity Bronze; John Creech, Varsity Fifth Place and Daniela Lopez, Alternate Gold.
Top Score Science: Ryan Kummer, Honors Bronze; Jaime Cuevas Vazquez, Scholastic Silver and Christopher Cerda, Varsity Fifth Place.
Top Score Language and Literature: Ryan Kummer, Honors Bronze; Jean Pagaduan, Honors Bronze; Caroline Krum, Honors Bronze; Tayler Downing, Scholastic Silver; Jaime Cuevas Vasquez, Scholastic Bronze; Christopher Inman, Alternate Bronze and Olivia Mondragon, Alternate Fifth Place.
Top Score Art: Jean Pagaduan, Honors Bronze; Ryan Kummer, Honors Fourth Place; Tayler Downing, Scholastic Gold; Christopher Cerda, Varsity Silver and John Creech, Varsity Bronze.
Top Score Music: Ryan Kummer, Honors Fourth Place; Tayler Downing, Scholastic Silver; Jaime Cuevas Vasquez, Scholastic Fourth Place; John Creech, Varsity Fourth Place; Christopher Cerda, Varsity Fourth Place; Cesar Garcia Santana, Alternate Gold; Olivia Mondragon, Alternate Bronze; Caroline Ryun, Alternate Bronze; Olivia Doshas, Alternate Fifth Place and Cleavant Yang, Alternate Fifth Place.
Top Score Science: Ryan Kummer, Honors Silver; Jean Pagaduan, Honors Fourth Place; Tayler Downing, Scholastic Gold; Jaime Cuevas Vasquez, Scholastic Bronze; Jacob Smith, Scholastic Fifth Place; Christopher Cerda, Varsity Bronze and Cesar Garcia Santana, Alternate Fourth Place.
