Mesquite’s Horn and Poteet high schools will advance to state-level AcaDec competition

by Chad Jones

On January 19th and 20th, teams from the five different Mesquite ISD high schools competed in the Region 12 Academic Decathlon Meet at McKinney North High school.

And two schools, Dr. John D. Horn and Dr. Ralph H. Poteet, performed well enough to advance to the up-coming state meet to be held in late February.

John Horn High School took home an overall victory in the large school division, while Poteet won third place in the medium-school division. Additionally, Mesquite High School finished second, whileNorth Mesquite took third, though their overall scores were not high enough to garner an advance.

This victory marks the fifth year in a row that the JHHS Academic Decathlon team will advance to the state competition. Altogether, the team snagged gold medals in Super Quiz Relay, Super Quiz Team written, and they snagged 79 out of a possible 126 medals.

Poteet High School took third place overall in its division, with a second-place finish in the Super Quiz Relay and a third place in Super Quiz Overall. Altogether, PHS students earned 17 medals.

As a result of their wins, Horn will attend the large-school state finals (to be held on Feb 23-24 in Katy, Texas), and Poteet will attend medium-school state finals (to be held on Feb. 23-24 in San Antonio). And assuming they continue their winning streaks, both schools will compete for a chance to represent Mesquite ISD at the national finals in Hawaii.

In case you weren't aware (which raises questions as to why you were reading this article), the Academic Decathlon is a nine-member team competition composed of three “A” students, three “B” students and three “C” students from various high schools that compete in ten (hence the 'deca') categories, including:

• written exams in music, art, language/literature, mathematics, economics, (social) science, and the Super Quiz,
• a seven-minute interview,
• a one-hour essay,
• and two speeches (four minutes prepared and two minutes impromptu),

The following is a list of the individual medals won by JHHS AcaDeca members:

• John D. Horn High School
• TEAM MEDALS
• Gold – Super Quiz Relay
• Gold – Super Quiz Team Written
• Gold – Overall Team Score

• INDIVIDUAL MEDALS
• Meagan Martin
• Bronze – Music
• Gold – Social Studies
• Silver – Language and Literature
• Bronze – Art
• Bronze – overall individual score, Varsity Division

• Drew Sapundjieff
• Bronze – Essay
• Gold – Speech
• Silver – Social Studies
• Gold – Language and Literature
• Silver – overall individual score, Varsity Division

• Drew Johnson
• Silver – Speech
• Bronze – Language and Literature
• Gold – Super Quiz individual
• 4th – overall individual score, Varsity Division

• Zack Saucier
• Silver – Speech
• Bronze – Music
• Bronze – Math
• Silver – Social Studies
• Bronze – Language and Literature
• Silver – Art
• Silver – overall individual score, Scholastic Division

• Andrew Funderburgh
• Bronze – Essay
• Silver – Language and Literature
• Silver – Super Quiz individual
• Bronze – overall individual score, Scholastic Division

• Casey Gilbert
• Silver – Essay
• Gold – Speech
• Gold – Music
• Gold – Economics
• Gold –Social Studies
• Gold – Language and Literature
• Bronze – Art
• Gold – Super Quiz individual
• Gold – overall individual score, Scholastic Division

• Alaina Zermeño
• Silver – Essay
• Gold – Interview
• Silver – Speech
• 5th – overall individual score, Honors Division

• Paulina Faundez
• Bronze – Interview
• Gold – Speech
• Bronze – Language and Literature

• Kim Villavicencio
• Bronze – Essay
• Bronze – Music
• Bronze – Social Studies
• Silver – Language and Literature
• Silver – Art
• Bronze – Super Quiz individual
• Bronze – overall individual score, Honors Division

• Staff
• Verified User
• Anonymous