The Englewood High School  Academic Decathlon team competed at the Frontier Academy Invitational this past weekend, placing second overall. Organizers say this was the biggest AcDec competition in Colorado history with 68 decathletes from five different schools.

Junior Hailey Rae Darras is in her second year as an Academic Decathlon team member, “I love it. It’s one of the many fun things that Englewood High School can offer. I like the people that are in Academic Decathlon with me, and I think the competitions are very fun.”

The team missed first place by 1,119 points. Mountain Vista won the overall event. EHS also placed 3rd in the Super Quiz. 

“It definitely can help you out with some study habits. I think people come into high school and don’t know how to study or they aren’t used to having time out of class to work on things and Academic Decathlon is mostly based outside of school,” said Darras. 

Darras won Silver in Music and Bronze in Art in the Varsity division, “I did pretty well. I definitely could do better. But that’s the good part about it. You can always see yourself growing, and you can set very realistic goals.”

Abigail Husbands, another junior on the team is focused solely on AcDec, “It’s probably one of the only things I do at school, and I like it a lot, and it helps keep me very motivated.”

Husbands competed in the Scholastic division winning Gold in Music and Art and Silver in Literature, “It is a good way to learn how to study and focus outside of school, which helps me stay focused inside of school and understand the importance of academics.”

The EHS team is made up of many of the same students as last year and they admit to making many gains over last year. In the most recent competition, the score exceeded last year’s by over 4,500 points.