5 Questions & Answers - Clarissa Kimmey academic decathlon team
Butler County is filled with a variety of people doing interesting things. This weekly feature offers snapshots of some of them by asking five questions. The latest installment appears below:CHERRY TWP — Moniteau's academic decathlon team is gearing up to compete April 26 through April 29 at the United States Academic Decathlon 2012 National Finals in Albuquerque, N.M.For senior Clarissa Kimmey, 17, of Hilliards, the national competition will be a triumphant end to her academic decathlon career.“A large part of my desire to go to Nationals was the opportunity to spend two more months with this group of individuals,” Clarissa said. “I'm really going to miss them after I graduate.”Clarissa has been a great addition to the team, having scored 8,000 points every year during her four years of competition.Clarissa plans to use the academic tools she learned during her time at Moniteau at Princeton University studying economics this fall.
QUESTION: What's something people don't know about decathlon competitions or the team?
ANSWER: Decathlon, as a program, is very complex.It took me awhile to fully understand its structure, and I'm a competitor.Decathlon is an academic competition comprised of ten different subjects — art, music, language and literature, social science, science, math, economics, speech, interview and essay — all with an overarching theme.We take all tests independently, but it is our team score that allows us to progress through the series of competitions.Each objective test is 50 multiple choice questions and is worth 1,000 points.Whenever we reference an individual score of 7,500 or 8,000 points, we're referencing a score out of 10,000 points, because there are 10 subjects.There are two especially unique aspects of decathlon.Firstly, the program isn't based off prior knowledge.We're given study guides of 70 to 120 pages per subject, which results in lots of study hours.Secondly, decathlon isn't just for students who achieve in the traditional classroom setting.We're actually required to have three “A” students, honors division, three “B” students, scholastic division, and three “C” students, varsity division.
How does it feel to win States two years in a row?ANSWER: Still a little surreal. The other seniors and I are so used to losing.We didn't win a single competition in either my freshman or sophomore year. That is hard to believe that we're no longer the underdogs.The best part is being able to show that, although we're a small school in rural Pennsylvania, we can achieve just as much as those from private and charter schools in other parts of the country.
QUESTION: How do you feel about going to Nationals?ANSWER: We're very honored to be able to represent our school and Pennsylvania, and hope to do them justice.At the same time, it's very humbling to compete against the best schools across the nation.And I'm especially proud of the team.We've grown so much over the past four years, going from winning nothing my freshman year to State Champions my senior year.
QUESTION: What will you miss most about academic decathlon after you graduate?
ANSWER: Apart from my team, what I'll miss most is decathlon's approach to learning.The element of competition, not only against others but against oneself means that you're never through improving.I also really love the interdisciplinary approach.How often does a high-schooler, or anyone for that matter, receive the opportunity to simultaneously learn the art, economics and physics of European Imperialism?The combination of these elements creates a very unique learning environment.I dont know of anything else quite like it, but will certainly be on the lookout throughout my college career.
QUESTION: What's your favorite memory of being on the decathlon team?
ANSWER: The past four years have been full of so many incredible people and experiences, but my favorite memory is winning States for the first time last year.There's no way it could have been more excruciatingly dramatic.After the first day of testing we learned that we weren't doing so well, and the second day was seemingly worse.One of our honors students got a 1 out of 5 on relay, and one of our essays was disqualified.But our team really supported each other. I think the memories of that are my favorite, and against all odds we ended up becoming the 2012 State Champions.The final score was to 41,480 to 41,359. We won by only 121 points, about the score of a single two relay questions.
