Academic Decathlon Champs

By Grace-Kali Hoang, Staff writer  

Fountain Valley High School students participated in the 2009 Orange County Academic Decathlon at Tustin and Westminster high schools on January 31 and February 7.  The team included Nic Cadwell (‘10), George Tran (‘10), Vivian Tran (‘10), David Bui (‘09), Kevin Chen (‘10), Dipto Chaudhuri (‘10), Dennis Wong (‘11), Amanda Hsu (‘10), Tong Yan (‘10), Hoa Mai (‘10), Jeff Nguyen (‘10), and Brian Nguyen (‘10).  

Each participant from FVHS earned at least one well-deserved medal.  Though the studying and mental preparation for the competition was rigorous, the team brought home the first place title in Division III. Divisions are determined by school size. FVHS also placed first in Super Quiz and ranked 9th overall in the county. 

Each year\’s competition revolves around a different theme. This year\’s theme was Latin America, and fortunately the Academic Decathlon advisor is Spanish teacher, Mr. Diecidue, who majored in Spanish. The team studied for ten different categories on Latin America: history, music, art, literature, math, economics, science, speech, and prepared for an interview and an essay. 

“It was my first year so I was very nervous,” Hoa Mai(\’10) says. “I didn\’t know what to expect, but afterwards, I realized it was fun and worth it to sit and take test after test for 4 hours.”  

FV won over 50 individual medals, and had five students place among the top overall in our division and in their grade categories, taking home a combined $1,900 in scholarship money. Juniors Nic Cadwell and George Tran won first overall in their grade categories and divisions, and earned $500 each.  Cadwell earned a medal in every single event. 

“We also met over the summer a couple of times to prepare for this event,” says Mr. Diecidue. “I tried the best I could to incorporate fun into studying, like watching movies or listening to music that went with our required theme of Latin America.” 

Along with studying over the summer, the decathlon team spent lunches on Tuesdays and Thursdays to meet in Mr. Diecidue\’s classroom. 

The multiple medal award winner Cadwell says, “There was a lot of studying involved to prepare for A.D. We put a lot of work into A.D, so I\’m glad that it all paid off.” 

Team member Vivian Tran agrees. 

“Sometimes it was hard to go and study when I could have been relaxing and talking with friends or going to another club meeting,” Tran says. “But it [was definitely worth it].”