January 15, 2025

The Stanislaus County Academic Decathlon Is under way and Hughson High’s talented team is focused on extending the Huskies’ successful legacy.

Over the past nine years at the county competition, Hughson has finished first twice, second five times, third once and fourth once. The Huskies have earned three trips to the California state competition, winning the medium-school championship once. In that same year, Hughson also captured the U.S. national title for schools its size.

That’s quite a reputation to live up to, but this year’s team has the same determination and work ethic for which Hughson is known.

For those unfamiliar with academic decathlons, it is the mental equivalent of the strenuous track and field event that seeks to determine the world’s best athletes. Only in this case, it’s the top high school thinkers, divided into three three-person teams based on grade-point average – varsity (2.99 and below), scholastic (3.0 to 3.74) and honors (3.75 and higher).

The competition consists of an essay, a speech and interview, lengthy written tests in seven topics (math, economics, art, music, literature, science and social science) and the lightning quick Super Quiz portion, when teams must answer 14 questions in front of a live audience.

The essay competition was held Dec. 10. Students picked from three prompts that they had no knowledge of beforehand, then wrote for 50 minutes with no access to materials or resources.

The second event is Jan. 16 at the Stanislaus County Office of Education. This is the oral part of the decathlon, when students will deliver four-minute prepared speeches and two-minute impromptu speeches, plus go through individual interviews with judges.

The final two events are Jan. 25 when contestants will take seven 30-minute tests starting at 7:30 a.m. on their computers at school, then travel to the Johansen gym in Modesto for the Super Quiz competition in front of family and friends. The awards ceremony where final results are announced follows the Super Quiz.

The national theme this year for the competition is “Our Changing Climate: and the novel all students had to read and discuss is “Solar Storms” by Linda Hogan.

Hughson’s decathletes this year are Izzy Becchetti, Sophia Kelley and Kayden Perez in the Honors division;  Alessandra Lazaro, Maryna Pimentel and Isabella Villarreal in the Scholastic category; and Jillian Wade, Julian Whiteside and Jessica Williams in the Varsity division. The alternates are Frances Akers, Braden Ballard, Sarah Forshey, Andrea Ochoa, Silah Leazer, Shane Lockwood, Annie Ramirez, Brice Rucker and Matthew Ruelas.

Hughson’s coach is math teacher Paul Michaelis, now in his 10th year leading the team.

Unlike at some schools, at Hughson Academic Decathlon is an elective class, meaning Michaelis and his team have a full period each day to study, prepare and practice. As the competition nears, they also meet every second or third Saturday to sharpen their skills for the Super Quiz.

Students and Michaelis take turns presenting material to the class, a strategy that Michaelis said “is a surprising amount of fun for the students and also the teacher.”