{"id":18864,"date":"2020-02-13T11:48:50","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T19:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/?p=18864"},"modified":"2020-02-14T13:27:58","modified_gmt":"2020-02-14T21:27:58","slug":"pylusd-high-schools-earn-top-accolades-at-52nd-annual-orange-county-academic-decathlon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goodnews.pylusd.org\/?p=18864","title":{"rendered":"PYLUSD high schools earn top accolades at 52nd annual Orange County Academic Decathlon"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, January 25 and February 1, 2020, all four\u00a0Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District<\/strong><\/a><\/u>\u00a0(PYLUSD) comprehensive high schools competed in the two part Orange County Academic Decathlon (OCAD).<\/p>\n

For 52 years, this event has invited\u00a0public and private high school students to compete in a series of academic tests and demonstrations. The topics cover a variety of academic disciplines, including art, economics, essay, interview, language and literature, mathematics, music, science, social science, and speech.\u00a0This year\u2019s theme was, \u201cIn Sickness and in Health: An Exploration of Illness and Wellness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then on Friday, February 7, it was announced that PYLUSD high schools earned top honors\u00a0at the OCAD Awards Ceremony at Orange County College.<\/p>\n

In Division 1,\u00a0Valencia High School<\/a><\/u>\u00a0came in fourth place (fourth overall) for the third year in a row, earning the Tigers a wild card invitation to the state competition scheduled for March in Sacramento.\u00a0Esperanza High School<\/a><\/u>\u00a0also had a strong showing in Division 1, earning tenth place (tenth overall).<\/p>\n

El Dorado High School<\/a><\/u>\u00a0(EDHS)\u00a0and\u00a0Yorba Linda High School<\/a><\/u>\u00a0also competed at the Division 2 level, earning many individual medals. In Division 1 and 2, PYLUSD is proud to have two teams ranked among the\u00a0top ten in Orange County!<\/p>\n

Here are the individual results from all four PYLUSD high schools:<\/p>\n

El Dorado High School<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The El Dorado Academic Decathlon Team competed in Orange County Division 2 and placed 11th<\/strong>, making them 25th overall<\/strong>. The highest scoring students were Iran Castillo, Alex Hernandez, Romney Olson, Emily Solheid, and Peter Weisel. Together, the Golden Hawks earned\u00a014 individual medals<\/strong>, including one\u00a0first place\u00a0medal in the Scholastic Speech competition by Alex Hernandez who earned five medals overall. Other team members were\u00a0Rebecca Preusch, Romney Olson, Braeden Bethencourt, Anita Mohajeri, Isabella Clark, Peter Weisel, Jacob Neligan, Jacob Morales, and Logan VanLanen.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s team was lead by teacher Amanda Gulack, as well as assistant coaches\u00a0Amanda Wolf, Michelle Erickson, Stephen Settle, Kelly Smith, and Tim Vrooman.<\/p>\n

\"El<\/a>

El Dorado High School’s 2019-2020 Academic Decathlon team.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Esperanza High School<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The\u00a0Esperanza Aztecs earned\u00a0tenth place<\/strong>\u00a0in Division 1 (tenth overall). Students received a total of\u00a010 individual subject medals<\/strong>\u00a0combined.\u00a0 Here\u00a0is a list of the contributing students and individual medals won:<\/p>\n