Kamehameha Schools Hawaiʻi campus recently won its fifth consecutive Hawaii Academic Decathlon (HIAD) state competition. Students will once again represent Hawaiʻi in the United States Academic Decathlon (USAD) held this year from April 28-30 in Anchorage, Alaska.
Seniors Raiden Domingo, Tom Ikeda and Lopaka O’Connor and sophomores Kepola Ishikawa, Anuhea Lee, Jordyn Moniz, Kawika O’Connor and Jacob Perry are the members of the KS Hawaiʻi team, which is coached by KSH High School math teacher Dane Nelson.
Teams from throughout Hawaiʻi competed at the HIAD, held at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo on February 27-28. Honoka’a High School placed second and newcomer Farrington High School placed third.
Academic Decathlon is an annual academic competition for high school students that involves seven objective tests—Literature, science, social science, music, art, mathematics and economics; and three subjective events: Essay, speech and interview. Each high school enters a team of up to nine students: Three "A" or honor students (3.750 - 4.00 GPA), three "B" or scholastic students (3.00 - 3.749 GPA), and three "C or below" varsity students (0.00 - 2.999 GPA).
Using this format, students compete with others of their own ability level as individuals. In addition members' scores are added together for a team score. The theme for the 2015-16 school year was India.
KSH’s eight team members took eight of the top 10 individual places at the HIAD competition. The team received a total of 69 individual medals and placed first in the event’s SuperQuiz—a quiz show type event that combines questions from six of the objective areas.
Individually, O’Connor was the highest scoring student in the state for the third year in a row and Perry received a medal in every subject, plus an overall high score medal in Speech and was featured in the event’s Showcase.
“This was the highest score a KS Hawaiʻi team has earned (43,239 out of 60,000) and the second highest in Hawaiʻi Academic Decathlon state history,” shared Nelson.
KS Hawaiʻi has been competing in the USAD since 2005, when Nelson joined the teaching staff. This is the seventh title in team history. The momentous year gives the team something to look forward to at the national competition, where they’ve finished second in their division over the last two years. Nelson shared that a similar score could place the team in the top three again this year.
Kamehameha Schools Maui, who was down a team members due to the flu, took part in the state competition for the second time, earning six individual medals and a tie for second place in the event’s SuperQuiz. KS Maui coach Naomi McCall hopes to continue to build the program and compete with a full team next year.
To learn more about the USAD, visit www.usad.org.
This was the highest score a KS Hawaiʻi team has earned and the second highest in Hawaiʻi Academic Decathlon state history,
Dane Nelson, KSH Head Coach
The 10 categories that make up Academic Decathlon
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