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The Academic Decathlon® is recognized as the most prestigious high school academic team competition in the United States. It is a ten-event scholastic competition for teams of nine high school students who match their intellects with teams from other schools. Students of all learning levels are given the opportunity to excel academically through this competition, which centers around a yearly theme determined at the national level. That theme is at the heart of the curriculum each year; however, the bulk of the things that decathletes learn apply to things that the CNEC team members need to know every year as a decathlete. Students are tested in ten categories: art, economics, essay, interview, language and literature, mathematics, music, science, social science, and speech. The work students do to prepare for Academic Decathlon reinforces what they are learning in all of their classes at school, plus it lays groundwork for classes that students will take as upper classmen at CNEC and for classes in college. Students gain a comprehensive understanding of education and have the opportunity to see how everything they learn in school is interconnected.
During the 2013 Fresno County Academic Decathlon, our students earned 26 individual medals and 3 special awards. Beyond those individual successes, our team as a whole earned a first (1st) place finish in our division (Division III), PLUS earned the ninth (9th) highest team overall score at the competition. All Team 1 members earned an additional medal for this accomplishment, AND we were awarded two large team trophies, which will soon be on display in our school’s display case. We were the only Clovis School to finish in the top ten AND the only school in the top ten who doesn't tackle the Academic Decathlon curriculum in a class setting. We were also the second most improved team out of all of the teams in our county.