Academic Decathlon Advances to Online Nationals

The 2018-2019 Academic Decathlon team pose with their medals following the Indiana state competition at Purdue University, Februrary 9, 2019. Left to right, back row: Winnie Liang, Ben Park, Dylan Palffy, Molly Caplice, Elaine Jensen, Amy Wang. Front row: Judy Ulayyet, Charlotte Visconsi.

La Lumiere’s Academic Decathlon team has advanced to the online national competition after placing 4th out of 9 teams in the state Small Schools Division, and 8th out of 15 teams overall in the state. A December invitational with the Northwest Indiana Hoosier Academic Conference allowed La Lumiere to advance to State, which took place at Purdue University, West Lafayette on Februrary 8th and 9th.

Senior Molly Caplice placed 3rd overall as a competitor in the Honors Division, and senior Dylan Palffy and junior Ben Park placed 1st in their divisions for the Music and Interview subjects, respectively. Second place medals were awarded to Molly Caplice ‘19 in Science, Elaine Jensen ‘19 in Speech, Dylan Palffy ‘19 in Art and Science, Ben Park ‘20 in Mathematics, and Charlotte Visconsi ‘21 in Music. Also on the team are Winnie Liang, Felix Lyu, Judy Ulayyet, Amy Wang, and Freddie Whitlow. They are coached by Jaime Frankle and Matt Buchanan.

Academic Decathlon is a national organization that provides students a chance to excel in a competitive multidisciplinary environment. Individuals are tested in 10 subjects—Art, Economics, Essay, Interview, Literature, Mathematics, Music, Science, Social Science, and Speech—as they pertain to one topic that changes each year. The 2018-2019 season topic was "The 1960's: A Transformational Decade.”

As a participant in the Small Schools Division, La Lumiere’s Academic Decathlon team will compete online at the national level in April, with all new sets of questions to test their knowledge on the 1960’s. Good luck, decathletes!