The end of an era

Part II: Academic Decathlon

My experience with AcaDec ended sometime last week, after we returned home from California and I dug out all the binders and stacks of paper from various corners of the room and piled them all in a stack on the floor, complete with certificates, the plaque from State, an abundance of medals (though I'm sure some on the team have more), and various mementos: competition IDs, alpaca memorabilia, and several hotel room keys. It's been such a unique experience, Decathlon--over a year of my life was dedicated to learning these several hundred sheets of material, committing to memory every nuance in The Red Badge of Courage, every (oftentimes inaccurate) fact from the USAD Resource Guides, every military statistic from Super Quiz.


I can honestly say that it's been the most meaningful activity I've been a part of thus far, and I don't regret for a minute dedicating my senior year to these ten subjects and seven other team members. Even now, so soon after competition, I can hardly remember which events I medaled in, but I can't forget the enumerable memories forged with these people, people I've been in classes with for years, but never really talked to until this event brought us all together.

There were moments, of course, of doubt, both towards the beginning and near the end. Questions of whether or not it was truly worth it, if we were even close to being good enough, haunted the back of my conscious as I sat there for hours on end studying in a manner I didn't fathom I was capable of. I may say that it didn't matter how well we did, that it was the experience that truly counted, but I think ultimately what made the experience so marvelous was working towards and achieving a goal that we as a team had set together.

AcaDec hasn't been the smoothest trip; there were many troubles that shook the team and various individuals throughout the year. Intermixed with the studying and testing and competing were the anxieties of college applications, claims of cheating, many incidents of almost failing a school course, and other little obstacles that shook the foundations of the team. We made it through, though, growing stronger as a team after each little incident we overcame together.

Looking at the eight other members of the team back when it was set in November, I would never dream that I would become as close to them as I am now. These people have literally become my family over the last year, and it's quite possible I've spent more time with them in the last few months than I have with my biological family. We've grown to appreciate each other in a way that I think few other activities can, and watched as one by one we matured through the last year. Communal lunches, endless speeches, sleepless nights, and one too many "that's what she said" jokes... together they've made my senior year a memory I'll carry with me forever, and helped me make friends that I hope to keep for a lifetime.



No regrets. PACADEC 2008.