Video by Aleya Noor

They practice daily during the school day, two days after school and a majority of Saturday. They prepare in order to compete against a series of schools from around the area. Their excellence brings esteem to the school, just as any other Coppell team. And now, with the advancement from regionals to the state round of competition, the CHS Academic Decathlon team proves to provide yet another mark of distinction to the high school.

Official sendoff to the AcDec team took place on Thursday, Feb. 25 during first period, as the competitive team headed off towards their meet in San Jacinto College in Houston. The team is set to prepare in all 10 categories – the essay and speech on Friday, and the rest on Saturday.

Each year, the team is assigned a certain topic over which to study several different aspects of – such as music, art, history, language, etc. – in order to later compete in academically based tests. Beyond just written examinations, oral demonstration and impromptu speeches over the subject have the ability to appear. This year, the topic chosen to be studied was the French Revolution.

“I’m in French already and love the country, so I was pleased to be studying about a topic that I was already fascinated with,” junior Kelsey Dreier said. “Through this year, I’ve learned so much more than I ever could have imagined about the revolution.”

Though the fourth period class has roughly 25 students enrolled, only a certain number of them could qualify to be on competitive “A”, “B” and “C” teams. Those remaining members either fill in as an alternate, or are part of the support group.  

“We help the competitive team by making PowerPoint’s and Jeopardy games to help them study,” support group member sophomore Priya Gupta said. “We’re basically their cheerleaders and their coaches mixed into one.”

Despite the multiple practices that team members must attend, additional studying outside of school is required as well in order for students to hone their skills as much as possible. Placing the highest at regionals that they have in years, the AcDec team is now prepared to go to state and compete against 40 other teams. The best team out of all will advance to finals in April.

“We’ve all worked very hard for this,” sponsor Donnette Alexander said. “It’s been months of intense preparation. This year’s team has worked well, with a lot of team spirit – they’re all very supportive and competitive at the same time.”

In the case that the team does not advance to finals, preparations for the remainder of the year have been made.

“We know that next year’s topic will be the Great Depression,” Alexander said. “So we can begin to prepare next year’s member for that topic ahead of time.”

A “survivor night” took place on Feb. 19 in order for the team to create its poster and a last minute preparation. Lasting from 6 p.m. to midnight, AcDec students spent the night playing games in order to prepare for their competition as well as form a closer bond as a whole.

Despite the outcome of the event, the team resolves to continue working hard in order to prepare for whatever future event might occur.

“People just assume that you have to be a super nerd to be in AcDec,” junior co-captain historian Tina Gutierrez said. “But really, all types of GPAs and personalities are welcome here. Being on the team has really made me realize the importance of collaboration and how many different types of people there are.”

This weekend, the Coppell High School Academic Decathalon team conducted a series of tests in order to determine which select few of them would be chosen to be part of the competing team.

The tests were conducted in two parts – an oral and a written half. The students were tested over the French Revolution, and several aspects of it. The results of these tests were released on Monday, Dec. 7 and the team list was posted.

Students chosen to be on the team were Honor Members Mitu Bhattatiry, Srishti Goel and Krishna Patel. Alternate member was Mig Milosevitch while Scholastic Members were Rahu Achukola, Kelsey Dreier and Suwetha Kalyan. Alternate member was Indu Bedi while Varsity members were Daniel Leon and Jay Ballard.

“I’m really glad I made it,” junior Kelsey Dreier said. “I’ve been working since the beginning of the year and studying to be part of the team, and finally all my work has paid off. I’m excited to be part of the team and participate in the competitions.”

For more information about Academic Decathalon, click here.