The United States Academic Decathlon (USAD) is a program that provides high school students an opportunity to experience the challenges of rigorous academic competition through participation in team activities. In addition, the Academic Decathlon involves members of the business/industry as active supporters of a program promoting academic excellence. Long term relationships, developed through joint participation, benefit the students and the community.
The Academic Decathlon program was initiated in California in 1968 by Orange County Academic Decathlon in cooperation with the Orange County Superintendent of Schools. Region contests were held until 1979 when California held the first statewide competition. In 1982, the competition became a national event and the USAD was formed. Texas became a USAD member in 1984 and won the national championship in Los Angeles with a team from J.J.Pearce High School, Richardson Independent School District.
Region and state contests are held for schools categorized as large, medium and small. Based on a point system, the highest scoring team represents Texas at the national USAD competition. All members of the winning team receive scholarships. Texas provides $150,000 in scholarship money each year. Registration fees and the Texas Education Agency contribute to this scholarship fund.
The Academic Decathlon is designed to include students of three academic levels. Each nine-member team consists of three Honor (3.8-4.0) students, three Scholastic (3.2-3.7999) students, and three Varsity ( < 3.1999) students. The Academic Decathlon is the only competition to award scholarships to Varsity students!
Bel Air High School is currently looking for students to join our Academic Decathlon team. Everyone is welcomed to join but only nine students will actually participate during the tournament. As stated about the team is composed of three students that have a high GPA (3.8-4.0), three students that have a low A to a high B GPA (3.2-3.7999), and finally three students who have a GPA lower than a low B (<3.1999). This last group of students is the one we always struggle to recruit. So if you are interested, we will train you and we know you will love it. Your classification does not matter and actually freshman and sophomores are encouraged to join because you will learn, practice and grow with the programs.
We have two competitions during the school year. The first is a scrimmage and is held during December. The scrimmage is a very good practice for everyone and based on results we will pick the team for the competition . The competition is usually held late January or early February. Both competitions have been held at Ysleta High School in the past.
You’ll always learn something different. Each year, the Academic Decathlon® selects a new theme for teams all over the country to explore. The theme shapes an entire course of studies—and brings it all together. The more years you participate in Academic Decathlon, the more themes you’ll master. And, since our curriculum team develops these themes with special attention to national content standards, you’ll find you’re becoming not just a more knowledgeable Academic Decathlete, but a stronger all-around student.
The U.S. Academic Decathlon is excited to announce that the overall curricular theme for 2020–2021 will be The Cold War. Following is some general information on the topics in each of the subject areas.
SCIENCE: The science topic will be an introduction to astronomy.
LITERATURE: The literature curriculum will include critical reading, one long work of literature, and selected shorter works. The long work of literature will be Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut J.
ART HISTORY: The art curriculum will include a section on art fundamentals and will largely focus on an exploration of art during the Cold War.
MUSIC: The music curriculum will introduce students to various musical works from the Cold War era.
SOCIAL SCIENCE: The social science curriculum will introduce students to the history of the Cold War.
ECONOMICS: The economics curriculum will cover fundamental economic concepts, microeconomics, and macroeconomics and will also include a thematic section on the economics of the Cold War.
MATHEMATICS: The mathematics curriculum will cover general mathematics, geometry, and an introduction to differential calculus.
The remaining subjects are included but may not be based on the yearly theme: ESSAY, SPEECH, AND INTERVIEW.
A small introduction to the subject covered this year are found on the following link.
https://usad.org/USAD/media/2019-2020/curriculum/materials-brochure-4-7-2020-21.pdf