Hughson High win ends 16-year Oakdale Academic Decathlon streak

After a winning streak longer than many of its students have been alive, Oakdale High relinquished its Academic Decathlon trophy to Hughson High. On the massive perpetual award now sitting in the Hughson High office, only Oakdale High’s name appears, again and again and again ...

Befitting champions of long standing, the Mustangs took a second-place finish with grace, said Hughson High Principal Debra Davis. “They have always been the ones to watch,” Davis said, showing sportsmanship at the meet and the principal giving a congratulatory call later.

For the Hughson team, she said, “It was as exciting to us as that last-second shot that wins the game, when the crowd just erupts.”

It was Hughson High’s second time competing in the Academic Decathlon, a 37-year tradition in Stanislaus County. Their upstart victory came as a surprise, HHS decathletes said.

“I felt like not having that confidence made that moment of winning that much more exciting,” said Kylie Butera. “It was indescribable.”

“We all cried,” said Jessica Ramos.

Last year the team placed second and 13 juniors from that team competed again as seniors. For next year, only three team members – two freshmen and a sophomore – remain, said teacher/team coach Paul Michaelis.

Both Hughson and Oakdale teams take “Aca Dec” as a class, meeting an hour every school day to go over the history, art, music, literature, math, economics and science packaged to give a 360-degree view of each year’s topic. Both teams also put in extra hours. Hughson teens also put in a three-hour study session every other Saturday or so, plus a lot of home practice.

Beyer High students took home the trophy for best showing by a club team, meaning students work after or before school with an adviser but have no decathlon-dedicated class.

This year’s topic was World War II, a far more familiar topic for American teens than India – last year’s topic. Some had seen lots of World War II movies. Some had heard the tunes.

“There was a lot of music in English. It was easier to understand,” said Cindy Gutierrez.

For Brandon Neal, the impact of study of the atom became the most interesting. “Because nuclear warfare was a big topic in World War II, we studied nuclear physics in the science section,” Neal said. “The physics behind (neutrons, protons and electrons) is really different than how we perceive the world every day, and it seems to completely shatter our understanding of the universe,” he said.

Decathletes, as the competition calls them, also said they learned a lot beyond the schoolwork.

“I learned a lot about World War II, obviously, but I also learned how to become friends with people I normally wouldn’t,” said Jessica Ramos.

The speech she had to give as part of the competition gave her new skills, Emily Wooten said. “I really felt I learned things in Aca Dec that will help me outside of school, in my future.”

“It really exposes you to a lot of subjects that you might see later in classes and it kind of gives you a leg up on everybody else,” Gutierrez said.

What do most people not know about Aca Dec?

“That it can be really fun. It’s not just work,” Maddy Keo said.

This story was originally published February 7, 2017 at 6:33 PM with the headline "Hughson High win ends 16-year Oakdale Academic Decathlon streak."