Merced County 41st Academic Decathlon kicks off this week, local high schools compete
The 2022 Merced County Academic Decathlon, starting this week, will be hosted in a combined in-person and virtual mode, according to a press release sent out on Tuesday by the Merced County Office of Education.
Starting Jan. 29, approximately 90 students from high schools across the county will compete in seven multiple-choice tests in math, science, social studies, music, art, economics and literature.
This year’s theme is “Water: A Most Precious Resource.” Virtual testing in all the subjects starts this week for each of the students competing in this year’s decathlon.
In-person events in this year’s competition include a Feb. 5 speech and interview event at the Downtown Professional Development Center, as well as a “super quiz” event that afternoon that covers all seven testing subjects. An awards ceremony will be live-streamed that evening on YouTube at 6 p.m.
“It’s exciting to have students return in-person for the communication events, super quiz and awards,” said Stacie Arancibia, events and community engagement specialist for MCOE. “While the online competition worked last year, nothing beats the in-person experience for these students.”
The winning team will advance to the state academic decathlon, which will be held remotely in March. Members of the winning team in the county competition will receive scholarships, funded with money donated by Merced School Employees Federal Credit Union and other donors.
The high schools sending students to the academic decathlon this year are Golden Valley, Merced, El Capitan, Livingston, Delhi, Le Grand, Pacheco, Buhach Colony and Valley Community School in Los Banos.
The continuing COVID-19 pandemic sparked fears of the spread of the coronavirus, so officials at MCOE, which hosts the academic decathlon, organized this year’s event to hold some competitions remotely and some in-person. MCOE officials organizing the event are being cautious and requiring all competing students to take a rapid COVID-19 test, and test negative, to participate.