Brian Harward staff writer
The Academic Decathlon team placed fourth in Division 3 at the State Aca Deca Competition. They claimed a total of 24 medals, with Timothy Kim, Katie Wu, Noah Pals and Daniel Wiener winning gold medals. Their scores were a vast improvement over their county performance.
“We all improved from our county scores by a significant amount because the tests were harder and we improved a lot. I think it showed how hard we worked,” Wu said.
Leading into next year, Aca Deca is looking to recruit more members who want to learn how to compete and succeed in competitions.
“Right now the biggest thing we need to do is recruit, for those football fans, I’m [new UCLA head football coach] Chip Kelly,” coach John Johnson said. “I’m going out and recruiting students, trying to find those people who want to figure out the best way to study in college, because that’s the best way to describe what Aca Deca teaches.”
Senior and team captain Timothy Kim, who has been on the team for three years, sees this performance as a turning point in their program.
“I think over the past three years Aca Deca has slowly become less competitive,” Kim said. “But I think this year is where we turned it around and I think we have a foundation now because everyone is returning, so from here on it looks like it is going up.”
To join Aca Deca, email [email protected]