Student Teams Get to Test Their Wits in This Decathlon

The answer to the first question of this year’s Super Quiz--the climactic event of daylong Academic Decathlons held Saturday in 40 California counties--was “The Know Nothing Party.”

But the 600 students and teachers gathered at Tustin High School for Orange County’s competition constituted more of a “know-everything party,” or almost everything, at least.

The leadoff question, like all of those in the 1985 Super Quiz, dealt with the issue of immigration, asking representatives from 50 public and private high schools what American political group had opposed large-scale immigration in the 19th Century.

For Orange County, where the competition originated 17 years ago, the topic was particularly appropriate. The county’s diverse ethnic, national and racial character was amply reflected in the faces and name tags of the team members, coaches and alternates.

Cumulative Family Tree

For example, Suzanna Mak, a Chinese-American student from Dana Hills High, had no difficulty in naming the largest projected ethnic group in the United States by the year 2000: Hispanics.

Other questions asked about the contributions of Cuban immigrants to the Miami area and the date of the Irish potato famine that prompted a large wave of Irish immigration to the United States in the 19th Century.

More difficult questions probed the intricacies of the current citizen naturalization procedures and the origins of restrictive immigration legislation.

A poll of the ethnic roots of the Edison High School team, from Huntington Beach, produced a cumulative family tree hung with Americans of English, Scottish, Irish, French, Swiss, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Syrian, Mexican and Chinese descent, along with one Native American.

The Edison team, which finished third in the countywide competition last year, was also distinguished by its team attire--Hawaiian shirts--and its effusive spirit, complete with a chanting and cheering section and a banner hung in the Tustin gymnasium.

Spirit and support counted in the Super Quiz, which followed a series of written tests, prepared and impromptu speeches and interviews that ranged over such topics as economics, language, literature, fine arts, mathematics, science and social science.

The Academic Decathlon teams are composed of six juniors and seniors, two competitors with up to a “C” average, two with a “B” average and two with an “A” average. For the Super Quiz--the only event open to the public--each of the individual team members competed with other team representatives at the same academic level. In turn, they had seven seconds each to answer a series of eight multiple-choice questions dealing with immigration that were flashed on a large screen.

When Edison’s Heike Farin hit a tough series of questions, she looked over her shoulder at her cheering section, made up of team alternates and her coach, Linda Carpenter.

Among those in the bleachers clapping was Roderick Lee, at 4 feet, 9 inches the team’s shortest member but, as several teammates pointed out, the one with the “biggest brain-to-body ratio.” Only briefly did the cheering section flag, letting their chins sink into their palms as their team slipped further behind.

“They have a lot of spirit,” said Ann Joynt, competition manager for the Orange County Academic Decathlon and a staff member of the county Department of Education.

“Edison has the best cheering section,” said Robert Peterson, county superintendent of schools.

By the close of the two-hour competition, the Edison team had answered only 25 of the 48 Super Quiz questions correctly, well behind the 33 right answers recorded by its deskmate on the gymnasium floor, the Foothills High School team from Santa Ana. Foothills, which won the Orange County competition last year and went on to take second place in the statewide contest, finished first this year in the Super Quiz.

However, as Edison’s coach pointed out, the Super Quiz is only one part of the final scoring, the results of which will not be announced until Thursday at the Academic Decathlon’s awards banquet at the Disneyland Hotel.

“Our best areas--speech, essay and interview--are yet to be graded,” Carpenter said. And Rusty Good, one of the Edison team members, had already won an individual award in his social science category.

In a bleachers interview after the Super Quiz, Carpenter, who teaches Honors English in addition to her academic coaching duties, said the regular and alternate team members practiced at school for the decathlon each morning from 6:30 to 7:30.

As the competition neared, there were also “study parties” at school and at team members’ homes where, the students said, Carpenter provided adrenalin, pizza and, on one occasion, sushi. Such a group commitment, team alternate Amy Alton said, “helps us stick together.”

The teams make use of a study packet prepared by the Academic Decathlon Foundation as well as outside sources. The winners of the county competitions will meet for the state championship at Rancho Santiago College in Santa Ana on Jan. 3.