SAN ANTONIO – The Taylor High School Academic Decathlon team competed in the Texas State Academic Decathlon Competition at the University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio, and returned with the bronze team medal and scholarship money. They will now advance to the national competition at the end of April.
Medal winners in the individual categories include:
Essay – Honors Bronze, Jaden Rush; Varsity Gold, Sami Pike-Hegar
Interview – Honors Silver, Jaden Rush; Scholastic Gold, Anna McCulloch; Varsity Gold, Gabby Howell
Speech – Scholastic Bronze, Anna McCulloch; Varsity Gold, Collin McGinnis
Music – Honors Gold, Kenny Calvo; Scholastic Silver, Anna McCulloch; Scholastic Bronze, Sam Brown; Varsity Gold. All nine team members finished in the top five in the state.
Art – Honors Gold, Zane Talavera; Honors Silver, Jaden Rush; Scholastic Silver, Anna McCulloch; Varsity Silver, Sami Pike-Hegar; Varsity Bronze, Gabby Howell. All nine team members finished in the top eight in the state.
Literature – Scholastic Bronze, Anna McCulloch. All nine team members finished in the top 10.
Social Science – Honors Bronze(tie), Zane Talavera, Jaden Rush; Scholastic Bronze, Anna McCulloch; Varsity Bronze, Sami Pike-Hegar
Overall winners include:
Scholastic fourth place ($750), Anna McCulloch; Varsity fifth place ($500), Collin McGinnis, and Varsity Silver ($1500), Sami Pike-Hegar Top scorers in each team category for Taylor include Zane Talavera in Honors, Anna McCulloch in Scholastic and Sami Pike-Hegar in Varsity.
Overall, the team amassed 35,252.2 points in this year’s curriculum, “The American Revolution and The New Nation.” In addition, each team member will receive $900 in scholarship money.
Team members are: Honors – Zane Talavera, Senior Captain Kenny Calvo, Senior Jaden Rush, Junior Scholastic - Anna McCulloch, Senior Lluvia Allen-Correa, Senior Sam Brown, Junior Varsity – Sami Pike-Hegar, Sophomore Gabriella Howell, Senior Collin McGinnis, Sophomore Alternates – Soryna McIntire, Senior August Calderon, Senior Izabel Johnson, Freshman Marissa Eddleman, Freshman Vicki Rowe coaches the Taylor Academic Decathlon team.
Next year’s curriculum topic will be “Technology and Humanity.”
