A decade of Academic Decathlon titles for Lemoore Middle College High
For the last decade, Lemoore Middle College High School, has dominated the Kings County Academic Decathlon.
And for the 10th consecutive year, Lemoore Middle College claimed the right to represent Kings County at the State Academic Decathlon competition in March.
“It’s a fantastic feeling. Every year is different, but this year’s team demonstrated a lot of grit. We dealt with sickness, quarantines, cancelled study sessions…. a very challenging year but the students still pushed through and did well,” said coach Allen Tong. “I still believe that this competition exactly fits the culture of our school.”
“The coronavirus pandemic still is an issue, and it definitely has created a new normal, but the question still remains the same: Since everyone has the same curriculum to study, what is the best way to study the material?” said Tong. “How important is collaboration versus individual study? How much time are students willing to commit after school and on the weekends? Yes, there exists a new normal, but the best prepared team usually wins.”
For the second year in a row the Kings County Office of Education held the competition virtually but eliminated the Super Quiz this year. Awards were done in a slideshow that were emailed out to the schools, according to Sheri Powers, coordinator/educational services for KCOE.
Forty-seven Kings County high school students competed virtually in the 40th annual Kings County Academic Decathlon on Feb. 5. The 2022 event theme was ‘Water: A Most Essential Resource.’
“We did miss the Super Quiz competition this year. But I am thankful and grateful to the Kings County Office of Ed who did a tremendous job of hosting the event. It’s tough to do everything online,” Tong said. “In person competition is much better than virtual competition. There is nothing like the “live” event. But a virtual event is much better than nothing.”
Besides Lemoore Middle College High, teams from Corcoran, Hanford, Hanford West, Lemoore, and Sierra Pacific competed in a rigorous set of academic examinations demonstrating their versatility in a variety of academic categories. Each team is comprised of “A”, “B” and “C” students.
Lemoore Middle College (Gurmannat Chalotra, Naeryl Ronquillo, Drevin Rivera, Lana Moore, Kodi Valentino, Chloe Morgan, Gwyn Champlin, Nicolo Wheaton, Richard Isaac Harmiel) collected 40,955.1 points.
Lemoore came in second with 26,869.6 points, while Corcoran got third place with 26,756.5 points. In 4th place was Hanford High with 25,031.0 points. In 5th place was Hanford West with 18,465.6 points and in 6th place was Sierra Pacific with 18,102.5 points.
Lemoore Middle College’s journey to the Academic Decathlon, Tong said, started last July for his students.
“A big shout out to my co-coaches, Janet and John Bengtson, who guided our students in so many aspects of the curriculum. They worked hard for our students,” said Tong, adding that he was “thankful to our principal, Jamison Whiting, and the faculty for all their support for Academic Decathlon. It takes a team effort to have the success we have.”
Team members participated in ten grueling events in the Academic Decathlon, including art, economics, mathematics, music, language & literature, social science, and science. In addition, the contestants performed prepared and impromptu speeches, wrote essays on a given topic, and participated in interview competitions.
At the event awards ceremony, individual medals and scholarships were won by students from each participating high school. About $4,200 in scholarships was awarded to top students.
Lemoore Middle College’s nine students earned 71 medals, and 17 scholarships.
The Winners
Top Decathlete: Gurmannat Chalotra, Lemoore Middle College, $500 scholarship
Top Varsity: Richard Harmiel, Lemoore Middle College, $250 scholarship
Top Scholastic: Lana Moore, Lemoore Middle College, $250 scholarship
Top Honors: Gurmannat Chalotra, Lemoore Middle College, $250 scholarship
Top Student Corcoran: Bishop Lee Martínez, $200
Top Student Hanford: Ángel Morán-Padilla,$200
Top Student Hanford West: Antonio Martínez, $200
Top Student Lemoore: Ángel Aboloje $200
Top Student Lemoore Middle College: Gurmannat Chalotra, $200
Top Student Sierra Pacific: Aniruddha Ashok, $200
Other $100 scholarship winners included:
▪ Gurmannat Chalotra (LMCHS) for language & literature, music, social science, economics, art, speech, and essay.
▪ Naeryl Ronquillo (LMCHS) for math, language & literature, and speech.
▪ Nicolo Wheaton (LMCHS) for essay, and science.
▪ Kodi Valentino (LMCHS) for speech.
▪ Alexa Aguilera-Álvarez (LHS) for speech.
▪ Ángel Aboloje (LHS) for interview.
Esta historia fue publicada originalmente el 8 de febrero de 2022, 5:23 p. m..
