Canyon’s Academic Decathlon Team Exceeds Expectations

ANAHEIM HILLS, CA – February 24, 2015 – Canyon High School’s first-year Academic Decathlon team finished first in their division and seventh overall in the 2015 Orange County Academic Decathlon.

Canyon High School students also earned a first place finish in Super Quiz, a game-show-style Decathlon competition where students have to answer questions within seconds, and team members took home several individual awards.

Leading the way for Canyon was sophomore Chuyin Wen, who finished seventh overall individually in Orange County and earned a perfect score in the science and interview portions of the competition.

Also earning top-ten county finishes were juniors Johanna Villacorta and Teline Tran. Tran and fellow junior Anoushka Patel also received perfect scores in the interview category. Only seven students county-wide earned this distinction.

“Decathlon helps students think critically, communicate, collaborate and create as a team. And students, honestly, feel they are a part of a family,” stated team coach Khoa Dao.

Academic Decathlon is 10-event scholastic contest that started in Orange County in 1968. It has since grown to national levels and governing rules require that students of varying academic achievement level make-up teams. Teams can consist of nine members with no more than three “A” students, three “B” students, and three “C” students. At least two students in each achievement level are needed for a team to enter the competition.

When asked what Academic Decathlon can provide students, senior Angeline Phan said, “Now, I feel I can accomplish anything.”

Canyon students started studying in September and organized their efforts around the theme New Alternatives in Energy: Ingenuity and Innovation.

Teams are placed in divisions based on the average overall team score from the previous two competition years.