welcome to WHS Academic DECATHLON
Recruiting Students of ALL GPAs
WELCOME!
Hey, welcome to the Acadec website. This will be a resource you can come to anytime you like if you want more info about our program.
Academic Decathlon throughout the years
Hear about Academic Decathlon experiences from previous Decathletes!
From Michael Woods, WHS Class of 2005
Through my time at Caltech, and later when starting my own companies and bringing products to market, I've found little more important than the ability to bring together teams of people, organize them, and motivate them towards a common goal. Acadec was one of the foundations of that skill for me—the teamwork aspect in general, as well as all the constituent skills of public speaking, interview interaction, writing, and a heaping dose on top of having to learn a ton of wildly different things, all at the same time; and moreover, making sure that your teammates have learned them too!
The other competition clubs available were good (And I did them all! Science Bowl, Science Olympiad, Spacesets, Bay Math League, ARML, and more!), but none had quite that same level of deeply integrated teamwork as Acadec. And for that, I'm thankful.
From Margarita Chudnovsky, WHS Class of 2008
“Acadec is the best and most valuable and meaningful part of my high school experience. Acadec built my confidence in my abilities and helped me find my best learning style, which gave me confidence when studying in college. Acadec helped me feel like I could achieve things even if I didn't have the discipline to have perfect grades, and that I could enjoy competition even if I wasn't involved in sports. Acadec gave me the opportunity to learn about many subjects and master material from fields which I was less comfortable in. Ten years later I still have a lot of random knowledge on our topics (China and climate change), which is also really fun :)”
Note: Margarita received her PhD in Economics in 2011