CHERRY TWP — Moniteau High School's Academic Decathlon program builds resumes and shapes lives.

“Everything we do here builds us for the future even if it's not directly related to our profession or whatever we are planning to do in the future, this is ultimately a great program to be a part of,” said junior Amanda Mock.

The team of 20 students in grades nine through 12 are seizing the opportunity to improve their education during these pivotal years.

Team members face an array of speeches, essays and tests during the decathlon.

“It's a really good chance to improve our testing skills and public speaking,” said junior Greg Shearer. “It also gives us a really good opportunity to look at colleges and get scholarships.”

Team member and senior Clarissa Kimmey will be attending Princeton University in the fall.

“I want to go into economics and the reason that I do is mainly because of academic decathlon,” Clarissa said. “It's the first thing that really exposed me to the subject.”

Moniteau School District will host the Pennsylvania Academic Decathlon Western Regional competition Friday and Saturday.

Sixteen schools will compete, but only the top five will move on to the state competition March 3 and 4.

Last April, the Moniteau Academic Decathlon team placed seventh among 36 schools nationwide in the U.S. Academic Decathlon national championship in Charlotte, N.C.

“I think the students within Moniteau underestimate themselves,” Clarissa said. “Us doing well in Academic Decathlon not only proves to outside people that we can achieve, but to Moniteau students as well.”

The top nine competitors from Moniteau's Academic Decathlon team will compete in regionals.

Co-State Director and Moniteau School Board member Joann Duke is excited to see Moniteau and other schools succeed.

“To see students actually be excited about learning is not something you see every day — you don't see it very often,” said Duke. “And after all, that's what school is supposed to be about—the love of learning.”

Eight of the nine top team members at Moniteau have been competing together since eighth-grade academic pentathlon contests with coach and district gifted-coordinator Jeremy Borkowski.

“It's crazy to see just how far they've grown, how far they've come,” said Borkowski. “Just watching their personalities change from year to year.”

These students are dedicated to challenging themselves through rigorous tests, interviews and team questioning.

“We have summer study groups and we do a lot of reading and a lot of testing,” said Borkowski. “We try to break it up into smaller pieces (and) I teach a lot about outlining.”

A decathlon competition is divided into different sections of prepared and impromptu speeches, essays, professional interviews and testing.

Students receive binders of information, which they study in class and on their own.

“The decathlon for me was the first class that actually challenged me,” said sophomore Jake Taciuch.

Competitors are awarded individual points, which are then added together to get the school's total.

A perfect score for an individual is 10,000 points.

Students can compare how well they score on tests nationally and see how they rank.

Junior Roman Weingartner keeps tabs on how students score nationally and informs the team.

“... I think that's where we see ourselves as exceptional in the right that we are doing something that many schools around us that are public and house maybe 500 kids are not doing,” Weingartner said.

Seeing how well other students are doing only encourages the team to study harder.

“People (nationally) are getting incredible high scores on everything,” said senior Tim Shearer. “They don't have a weak point. It's like 900 on every test and you get to go and compete against some of those kids and find out that you can actually beat them.”

Duke has been the state co-director for five years, but has been involved with the program since 1987.

She is excited to see the program succeeding so well at Moniteau and within the state.

“Too often in today's world students' value and ability is not seen by academic ability but athletic achievement,” Duke said.

The Moniteau team is confident they will be successful at the regional competition and are looking toward another national placing.

“We get a lot of respect when we do really good because everybody is like ‘Wow, who are these people and how are they doing so good?'” said Greg Shearer. “It also gives myself the opportunity to make friends throughout the area and really get closer to some of my classmates.”

The public can attend two sections of the Pennsylvania Academic Decathlon Western Regional competition.<B>What: </B>Super Quiz Oral Relay<B>When: </B>11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday<B>What: </B>Awards Ceremony<B>When: </B>1:45 to 2:45 p.m. Saturday<B>Where: </B>Moniteau High School Auditorium, 1810 West Sunbury Road, West Sunbury, PA 16061.

The judges for the PAAD Western Regional Competetion Friday and Saturday at Moniteau High School are:Kathy Gregory-SteinerSteve HinterbergerVicki HinterbergerMark StewartTerri TaylorTerri PhillipsLindsay DolanBeverly BishopDanielle BookKevin ChannellMolly ChannellJanet CampbellWilliam McCarrierDale PinkertonJerry CampbellKathy McBrideMelissa DeMatteisLarry ThompsonTrixie HeckGeorge PryLance KaufIone MathiasStacey ArmagostMichael PanzaDeanna Panza