Westover High students bring home medals in academic decathlon competition

ALBANY – Westover High School’s academic decathlon team continued its history of excellence with two team members bringing home medals in the recent Online Nationals competition in the large school category.

Judy Li won silver in math and bronze in science in the honors category, with Jaydon Poyser winning the bronze medal in math in the varsity category.

The team comprises nine members who compete in the honors, scholastic and varsity categories, testing their knowledge in seven subject areas.

Westover’s team has won region competition for 16 of the past 17 years.

Head coach Pamela Heard attributes much of the success to Principal William Chunn’s focus on academics throughout the school.

“The main thing, I want to give Mr. Chunn credit for our academics,” Heard said. “We do that every single day. I use that mantra with my students: ‘This is an academic school’.”

Just as in other school activities, like competing in sports, being a member of the academic decathlon team takes dedication and hard work, but it also is fun, the coach said. Students today are faced with distractions that those a generation ago did not have to deal with in the form of the ubiquitous cellphones, social media and other popular devices.

Fortunately, the students help their peers focus during the preparation sessions, Heard said.

“They team up and create games, different activities so they can drive the information home in their memories,” she said. “That’s what’s good about it. They practice. They get really excited. It’s just fun watching them.

“We have one student who’s good in music. He would explain the music, the notes. He loved the history, so he became a mini-teacher.”

The team members also dedicate time at home to studying for the decathlon, in addition to their other studies required for graduation, the coach said. Competition in academic decathlon can benefit students on college applications, and they also will be among the school’s noted alumni when they graduate.

“It looks good on college applications because not only are you doing your regular academics, you’re taking time out to study seven additional subjects,” Heard said.

Students give an interview, give a speech and write an essay as part of the competition.