From left are La Lumiere's Emma Wynn (coach), Randy Mashak, Scott Lee, Cody Steinhiser, Matthew Babcock, Keith Miller, Justin Katz, Conor Luck, Emma Keiley, Dustin Smith (coach), Hillary Zawada. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)
Indiana high school students from around the state met to test their mental agility at Purdue University on Feb. 11-12 in the State Academic Decathlon. La Lumiere School placed third in the small school division behind John Glenn High School, Walkerton, and Reitz Memorial High School, Evansville.
Coach Dustin Smith said, “We are very pleased with our ability to compete and win at the state level, especially considering our size. With fewer than 200 students, our success against schools with 3 and 4 times our enrollment is quite an accomplishment.”
Administered by the Indiana Association of School Principals and funded by Purdue University, the decathlon features teams of students who compete through tests, essays, speeches and interviews to advance to the United States Academic Decathlon National Championship. The competition is made up of 10 events with objective tests in seven areas (language/literature, math, science, economics, fine arts, music, and history) as well as speech, interview, and essay. The theme for this year’s competition is the French Revolution. Teams consist of up to 12 members with three being designated as Honors (3.75-4.00), three Scholastic (3.00-3.74), and three Varsity (up to 2.99) with three alternates. Each student participates in all 10 events.
