The month of March marked the end of the Academic Decathlon season for LAUSD. While most schools were done with the competition by the end of February, the top-scoring teams continued their preparation into the State Competition until the last week of the month.

March also marked the beginning of the new Academic Decathlon season, when USAD announced the following year’s theme - Water: An Essential Resource for the 2021-22 school year. The new printed and online study materials usually become available between May and August. However, this does not mean that Decathlon schools have not already begun preparing for next year’s competition.

Schools are already addressing the operational and logistical components of the program: putting together their budgets and purchase orders, confirming the school network support and coaching team, and recruiting new team members. The most experienced teams are continuing with their weekly study sessions and meetings, focusing on the sections in the curriculum that are common to every year’s theme (Principles of Art and Fundamental Economics Concepts, for example). Some decathletes are already exploring the subject areas that are not intrinsically related to next year’s overarching theme (Speech, Interview, Math, and to a certain extent Essay), as well as beginning to read next year’s selected novel: The Seawolf, by Jack London. Coaches also continue building a sense of teamwork, identifying the decathletes’ strengths, setting up the new year’s goals, and developing a strong team spirit with specific roles.

March is also the time for new schools to start planning for next school year’s Academic Decathlon and Pentathlon competitions. New participating schools qualify for free curriculum, registration and resources. It’s as simple as filling out the LAUSD Interest to Participate form HERE to start a new and excitement enrichment program and scholastic competition at your school.

Will Conover discussed jazz on the Voice of America from 1955 to 1996; Dizzy Gillespie in 1955, a year before his tour for the State Department; Roy Nance played the famous solo in “Take the ‘A’ train”
CALIFORNIA ACADEMIC DECATHLON
The last few weeks have been busy for the eight LAUSD Academic Decathlon teams that qualified for the state competition (Grant High School, Van Nuys High School, Marshall High School, Westchester Enriched Sciences Magnet, Bell High School, Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, Verdugo Hills High School and North Hollywood High School). Following the same virtual model used during the LAUSD regional competition, students continued hard at work studying the curriculum and brushing up on their essay, speech and interview skills.

Below are the top 10 California State Competition scoring teams:
LAUSD Academic Decathlon would also like to recognize Stephany Rodriguez from Bell High School, who won 7 medals in the individual competitions, as well as Giovanni Grajeda and Gwendolyn Singer from Van Nuys High School for winning 5 medals.

Congratulations to our Decathletes for a great season!

PENTATHLON
In the midst of their competition, schools have officially completed their registration and have competed in the first competition of the season, the essay. Students are now preparing for their objective tests taking place on Saturday, April 10th. From the comfort of their homes, Pentathletes will take exams in Fine Arts (Music and Art), Literature, Mathematics, Science and Social Science.

To mark their participation in the program, every student who completed all tests will receive a Pentathlon T-shirt.
Good luck to students and coaches as they enter the final stretch of the competition!
SPOTLIGHT
For this month’s newsletter, we would like to highlight a few students who have been part of Academic Decathlon all four years of their High School experience. This month’s spotlight highlights two seniors, Tiara Sk from Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, and Regina Ortiz from Marshall High School.

From Freshmen year to Senior year, Tiara and Regina have spent countless hours studying Academic Curriculum, and while they were learning about a variety of topics, they also learned some valuable lessons. When asked about their experiences over the last four years, this is what they had to say:

Q: What was it that drew you to return to Academic Decathlon year after year?

Tiara: There were many things that drew me to AcaDeca each year. In terms of what initially drew me to the program, I had participated in Academic Pentathlon for one year in middle school. In 8th grade, I was finally able to participate, and in the end, I had received a medal for every single event...Since then, I’ve never thought twice about leaving behind AcaDeca. My drive after freshmen year was my deep interest in the knowledge within the various themes, and then it was taking over the team and keeping the club running at my school.

Q: What would you say the biggest difference is between being a rookie decathlete and a more experienced decathlete?

Regina: The biggest differences are the techniques that you learn. When studying for Academic Decathlon, you really learn how to study and what works for you. After a year or two, you’ve got studying techniques down and that is something that rookie decathletes don’t have.

Tiara: I can tell you from experience that if you’re a first time Decathlete, the amount of material is overwhelming, and walking into your first speech and interview event is one of the most terrifying things to experience. On the other hand, as the years go on, participation settles into a rhythm. It’s easier to find all the important points to study in the curriculum, and you don’t have as many jitters on speech and interview day because you know what to expect.

Q: Any advice you’d give to students who are interested in joining, but are unsure if this program is right for them?

Tiara: The most common thing I would hear whenever I talked about Academic Decathlon is that the competition is only for “smart” people, which is impossible considering that the team has to be made up of students with a variety of grades. Even then, in my opinion, grades do not define a person's ability. So long as one has an interest in the topic and wishes to learn more about it, that is the perfect incentive to participate in Academic Decathlon.

Regina: I would advise that if they have the time, if they have the interest, if they want to learn new things, then they should just try out for the team. It may seem like a lot, but you learn a lot, especially how to manage the workload and even enjoy it.

Q: What has been the biggest takeaway from being part of Academic Decathlon?

Tiara: AcaDeca isn’t only about studying and being ready to crush the competition with knowledge. It’s about building a community with your team, and having fun while absorbing the immense amount of material given each year.

Regina: My biggest takeaway is my team. They will be my friends for a while, and I know I can always talk to my coaches in the coming years.

From In Sickness and In Health to Africa, Tiara and Regina’s favorite topics, themes vary so much that you just never know what you might learn by joining Academic Decathlon. The takeaway from these responses is that Academic Decathlon is more than just an educational program. Yes, a major part of it is reading material, but in the end, the lessons learned from being a Decathlete far exceed the limits of a classroom.

Every month, the Spotlight section will highlight an administrator, coach, student, sponsor, or volunteer who has made an impact on our program. If you would like to nominate someone, please submit their name to academic.decathlon@lausd.net with a short description as to why they should be featured.
The theremin’s inventor, Russian physicist Leon Theremin (1896 – 1993), with his instrument; Juanita Hall played the role of Bloody Mary in the original production of South Pacific
2021-2022 INTEREST TO PARTICIPATE
It is never too early to enter next year’s Decathlon & Pentathlon season. The Interest to Participate form is now available for schools to join the 2021-22 competition. Start planning now and be part of this extraordinary academic enrichment opportunity.

In addition to the traditional study guides and curriculum resources, new Decathlon schools will be granted free access to the Online Teaching and Training Center. This learning tool provides students with a unique combination of individual study sessions, head-to-head challenges against students from around the nation, as well as local, nationwide, and international scrimmages.

Pentathlon schools who are interested in participating qualify for free curriculum, resources, and competition registration fees.

For more information regarding next year’s theme, please visit the USAD website.
ROTARY PAGEANT OF THE ARTS 
For the last three years, the Rotary Club of Los Angeles, in partnership with Beyond the Bell, has been providing LAUSD Academic Decathletes with the opportunity to participate in their yearly speech competition. For those not familiar with the program, Rotary’s Pageant of the Arts provides high school students with the opportunity to display their talents and compete with other students for recognition and monetary prizes. Students gain valuable experience as well as exposure to university deans and professors. 

LAUSD Decathletes competing in the speech portion of the competition were asked to write and perform a 4–6 minute speech on the topic Doing Good in the World. Here are this year’s Decathlete Speech winners’ bios, and what winning this prize money means to them.
First place Speech Winner, Vanessa Sandoval, being interviewed via Zoom by Jeremy Weinglass of Rotary Club 5 during a Club meeting.
“My name is Vanessa Sandoval, and I am currently a junior at South Gate High School. I am involved in a variety of teams at my school from being Captain of Academic Decathlon to Co-Captain of Cross-Country and Track & Field. I have a variety of passions and writing is one of them, which is why I participated in the Pageant of the Arts speech these past two years. I am honored to have come in first place and excited to go onto the next round. Other than academics, I enjoy taking care of my 20+ rescue animals!”

“My name is Ernesto Alvarez, and I am a senior at Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy. The activities I participate in school are Academic Decathlon, Robotics, Debate, MESA. Outside of school, I am a tutor for AP US History, a co-developer for two student-led start up organizations, and a chapter co-director for a student-run organization focusing on social justice and AI. I recently won 2nd place in the Rotary Club Speech Competition with my submission titled "Looking Introspectively to Fix Our Biggest Issues in the World." This composition is centered on the idea that any significant problem in our country can be in fact easily fixed; the difficult part is changing ourselves. The theme was "Doing Good in the World" so why focus on only one issue out of a plethora of options when I can choose a topic that directly affects nearly every issue in our nation. Thankfully, the judges likewise believed in my idea for the way to do good in the world and were gracious enough to award me $200. I am grateful for this recognition and hope I can continue my wide-spread goal of somehow influencing change for the betterment of our society.
 
“My name is Jennifer Soto, and I am a junior at Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy. Some of the activities that I am involved in are Academic Decathlon, Disability Awareness Club, GSA, and the Recycling Club. I recently won third place in the Rotary Club Speech Competition with my speech, "The Zero Waste Lifestyle and Why It's Hard," which was about the difficulties of keeping recycling habits and the effort of reducing plastic. The theme for the competition was "Doing Good in the World", so I saw this competition as an opportunity to educate others about my stance on saving the environment, a topic that I hold dearly. The judges shared my vision of doing good in the world that they awarded me $100. I'm very thankful for this opportunity and recognition of my speech, which was something I didn't imagine before. Some future plans of mine are to continue in the Academic Decathlon program and continue raising awareness about plastic usage in my local area.”
“Reconciliation” by the sculptor Josephina de Vasconcellos was installed at Coventry in 1995, with a duplicate statue placed in the Peace Garden in Hiroshima, Japan; Paul Whiteman and his band, three years before premiering Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. 
SPONSORS 
Sponsors allow Academic Decathlon & Pentathlon the opportunity to provide students with scholarships to assist with future financial needs. As the Decathlon season comes to a conclusion coach Patricia Prokopidis and the Westchester ESM students who received scholarships this year wanted to share their gratitude with our sponsors.

“Over the last two years I’ve had the privilege of receiving scholarships and saving them for financial security for when I finally attend college. Knowing that after all the misfortune that came our way during the Covid-19 pandemic, that you guys were still able to provide all the awards as if it were still a normal competition meant a lot to me and all my other peers receiving awards.”
Anthony Velasquez (12th grade)
Westchester Enriched Sciences Magnet

"With this scholarship, I will be able to save it and put towards my first year in college when I enter this upcoming fall. The scholarships I have earned as part of this competition have aided me into furthering my education and pushed me to try harder to succeed in Academic Decathlon as well!”
Patrick Jovel (12th grade)
Westchester Enriched Sciences Magnet

“I want to thank you for the scholarship that I was awarded. I have no doubt that the money awarded to me will greatly assist me in my college endeavors. Honestly, I was unsure about participating in Academic Decathlon, but the acknowledgment of my effort gave me the affirmation I needed to know it was worth joining.”
Jacob Henry (11th grade)
Westchester Enriched Sciences Magnet

“Thank you for awarding me the Academic Decathlon Scholarship. It is nice to know that the hours of studying and my perseverance through these troubling times has been recognized... To leave not only by scoring high as a team but as well as an individual, allowed me to become an example for other future decathletes to follow and for that, I am truly thankful for not only being recognized as a high scorer, but for being given a chance to participate in a competition that allowed me to gain lifelong friends, experience, and the opportunity to grow as a person.”
Boris Curiel Molina (12th grade)
Westchester Enriched Sciences Magnet


Sponsorship opportunities are still available. Proceeds enable Beyond the Bell to continue our work in building LAUSD scholastic competitions. If interested in donating, please make checks payable to LAUSD Academic Decathlon.

Checks can be mailed to:
LAUSD Academic Decathlon
ATTN: Luis Mora
333 S. Beaudry Ave., 29th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90017
The ruins of St. Michael’s Cathedral, Coventry. A portion of the new cathedral is visible to the left;
The massive Moscow Coventry, photographed in 2017
DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? 
My role in the Cold War included:
  • I was the greatest jazz composer and bandleader of my time. I led my band for more than 50 years and composed thousands of scores.
  • The title of my song "Take the 'A' Train" is based on directions I gave to Billy Strayhorn, who was traveling from Pittsburgh to New York City, to meet me at the studios:

Take the "A" train
You must take the "A" train
If you miss the "A" train
You'll find you've missed the quickest way to Harlem.
Hurry, get on, now it's coming.
Listen to those rails a thrumming.
All board! Get on the "A" train
Soon you will be on Sugar Hill in Harlem.

  • My best known titles include : "It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got That Swing", "Sophisticated Lady", "Mood Indigo", “Solitude", "In a Mellotone", and "Satin Doll".

Do you know who I am?
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Do You Know Who I Am Answer: Duke Ellington