Volunteers

Volunteer Information for Regional Competitions

Volunteer Information for Iowa Academic DecathlonR Regional Competitions

NE Iowa Regional Competition

• Wednesday, January 28, 2026 hosted by Grundy Center High School

• Please contact Renee Gingery at regingery@spartanpride.net for information and to volunteer.

Central Iowa Regional 

• Speeches and interviews will be hosted by Urbandale High School on Thursday evening, January 29, 2026

• Testing will be hosted at the DMACC Southridge Campus on Friday, January 30, 2026

• Please contact Carrie Forristall at bairdforristallc@urbandaleschools.com for information.

• Contact Neil Deutsch at volunteers@iowaacdec.org to volunteer.

Eastern Iowa Regional Competition

• Saturday, January 31, 2026 hosted by Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School

• Please contact Kevin Darrow at kdarrow@crschools.us for information and to volunteer.

Volunteer Information for State Competition

Volunteer Information for Iowa Academic DecathlonR State Competition

• State Competition will be held March 5-6, 2026 at Saydel High School in Des Moines

  • The SPIN events will be held Thursday evening, March 5.

  • The testing, Super Quiz, and Awards Banquet will be held Friday, March 6, 2026.

  • Detailed information about speeches and interviews can be found under Speech Judging or Interview Judging on this site.

  • Video training should be reviewed prior to the competition.  

  • Contact volunteers@iowaacdec.org if you have questions.

Volunteer Information for National Competition

Volunteer for United States Academic DecathlonR 2026 National Competition

• USAD's National Virtual Interview Competition will be held on Zoom on ________, April ___, from 4:30 - 7 pm.

• USAD's National Speech Competition will be held April 23, 2026, in Garden Grove, California

  • Detailed information about speeches and interviews can be found under Speech Judging or Interview Judging on this site.

  • Video training should be reviewed prior to the competition.

  • Contact volunteers@iowaacdec.org or amy@usad.org if you have questions.

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR VOLUNTEERS!!!

Feedback from our judges: 

Lots of you worked very hard to test out new processes and procedures, and took on actions that required flexibility. Thank you all for thinking outside of the box to make this happen for our students!

This has been Cool!!! I'd definitely do it again!

It was very good!  The students were great!  Gives me hope for the future

It was a great day!

Why didn’t you ask me to do this years ago? (side note: this is a quote from a friend of Neil’s that vaguely references one of those friendly inside jokes)

There’s a lot of resilience with these kids and they give me hope for the future. 

I am in for next year.  

This was a blessing.  Thank you.

Thank you for the invitation to judge at this event, what a wonderful opportunity. I cannot imagine how the event can have gone any more smoothly. I was anticipating the organized chaos of the academic events my children participated in in days gone by and barely saw a hint of that. You said on several occasions that not only would I enjoy the event, but I would leave with a sense of optimism for the future and you were right. What wonderful young people were the young speech-makers I heard and how creative and energetic they were. I could have listened all night. So cudos to you and the rest of the organizing team.  I hope the students enjoyed themselves as much as this judge did. 

* Thrivent Financial Members:

You can support Iowa Academic DecathlonR by donating your Choice Dollars!