Over the weekend, Rosary’s JV and varsity Academic Decathlon teams competed in the second stage of the 2023 competition. The first stage occurred last Wednesday, Jan. 25, when our Royal decathlon-ers had to write an essay in 50 minutes based on one of three offered prompts related to the curriculum. Every year, the curriculum is centered around a different academic theme, with this year’s being the American Revolution.

In the second stage, our competitors had to deliver two speeches and partake in an interview. In the speech phase, participants had to deliver a prepared, approximately three-minute-long speech, closely followed by an impromptu, two-minute speech. Then, competitors moved on to a seven-minute interview where they were judged on their composure and quality of response to several diverse questions.

Though pre-competition jitters were expected, when asked how she felt going into the competition, co-captain Sophia Harvey ’23 shared, “I felt very prepared going into the competition, especially after all of our meetings and practices. I am especially proud of the hard work our team put in, and I’m sure they all did wonderfully.”

Despite how intimidating this competition comes off, as a member myself, the experience is really fun and teaches crucial skills applicable to real life, such as both memorization and improvisation, as well as social skills and public speaking. Co-captain Emma Fredman ’23 agrees with my assessment, confirming, “Academic Decathlon is kind of like a big trivia game, and if you’re as good at the memorization/test part, you can still do well in the interviews and speeches. Either way, it’s practice that helps in and out of school, and we find plenty of room for jokes along the way.”

This Saturday, Feb. 4, JV and varsity will complete the third stage of the competition at Westminster High School, in which the Royals take a “Super Quiz” that tests contestants on their knowledge of the various aspects of the American Revolution curriculum. Spectators are welcome, so if you feel like showing your support for our Royal decathlon-ers, feel free to cheer us on!