Canyon High School Academic Decathlon Team Named Overall Team Winner at County Event

Orange, Calif. - February 19, 2016 - The Canyon High School Academic Decathlon team scored their way to top honors at this year’s Orange County Academic Decathlon (OCAD). They won the title of Overall Team Winner by earning both the highest team total in Division 1 and the highest team total in Orange County.

Team members Kevin Borsada, Arian Kazerani, Akif Khan, Jonathan Komala, Dennis Phang, Andrew Reyes, Josh Schlegel, and Zayn Suhale worked diligently for 45 hours or more a week to master all ten Decathlon subjects. They collectively earned 49 individual medals out of a possible 80 in Division 1, including 13 first place medals, at the OCAD event. In addition, seven team members received top overall individual awards, defeating over 500 competitors. Canyon’s Academic Decathlon team will now move onto the statewide competition where they will compete against 38 other teams in Sacramento next month.
Canyon’s big win comes during Decathlon Coach Khoa Dao’s second year leading the program, which he brought back last year following an eight year hiatus.

Academic Decathlon is a rigorous, ten event competition comprising of seven objective tests in Math, Science, Literature, Social Science, Art, Music and Economics and three subjective events in Essay, Speech and Interview. Each team must include three “Honor” students (3.75 or higher GPA), three “Scholastic” students (3.00 to 3.74 GPA) and three “Varsity” students (2.99 or lower GPA). There are a total of four rounds of competition, culminating in the USAD Nationals held in late April. 

Decathlon teaches study skills, but also gives students the opportunity to develop other important college and career skills such as time management, dedication and teamwork.