SAN ANTONIO — Local students can now call themselves the best scholars in the state. Taylor High School’s Academic Decathlon team won gold at the Texas Academic Decathlon state competition in San Antonio Sunday, Feb. 25. The ACDEC team competed Friday, Feb. 23 and Saturday, Feb. 24 in the small school division.
“What was so cool was that all of these other large and medium schools, they were excited for us too,” ACDEC Coach Vicki Rowe said. “It was pretty neat. Our kids are really friendly, so they make a lot of friends with the different teams. We just had such a huge, positive reception from all the teams.”
Academic decathlons are a 10-leg scholastic challenge that involves music, art, language and literature, math, science, economics, social science and a super quiz oral relay.
The results of each leg are compiled into an overall team score. While the Ducks racked up a bunch of individual medals on their way to clinching the regional championship in January, Rowe said the team won the state in a different fashion.
Rowe said Taylor ACDEC did not perform well in the individual legs, which led to her students being nervous before the team results. However, the team did well enough overall to earn the state title honor.
“What makes a true academic decathlon team is how you perform over all 10 subjects,” Rowe said. “That’s what makes a good team, so it’s your total points scored.”
The coach, who has been to the state contest for 20 consecutive years, credited team chemistry as the reason the scholastic group could pull this kind of victory out.
“They’re a family,” Rowe said. “I think that’s what makes a difference. With a team like this, you could be individuals … but these kids will tell you that they’re a family.”
ACDEC teams are divided into three different teams: honors, scholastic and varsity. Rowe said each team requires certain criteria, but all three teams contribute to the overall score.
Honors team members are senior Jaden Rush, senior Rose Simons and junior Alexandra Rebollar-Cruz. Scholastic team members are junior Collin McGinnis, junior Jeremiah Ruiz and senior Nathan Basche.
Varsity team members are junior Sami Pike-Hegar, senior Sam Brown and junior Ravis Kennedy. Team alternates are sophomore Izabel Johnson, sophomore Laurena Torres and junior John Paul Davis.
As the winning team, Taylor ACDEC members will receive a $1,250 scholarship from the Texas Academic Decathlon.
Rowe said coaching academic decathlon gives her a promising perspective on the state of young leaders to come.
“Our future is bright,” Rowe said. “I think a lot of people look at teenagers and shake their heads or whatever. But when you go to a competition like the state academic decathlon and look around that room, it’s amazing. You know there’s so many talented and brilliant kids with so much to offer. And those are our kids. Taylor kids.”
Taylor ACDEC has won five state championships under Rowe’s tenure. The team will be one of three teams to compete at the United States Academic Decathlon national competition in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in April.
