By JONATHAN DALE, Staff Writer
Friday, February 8, 2008
Printed courtesy of Imperial Valley Press, El Centro, CA

The Central Union High School Academic Decathlon team was once again crowned kings and queens of the stage Friday night at the Ben Hulse Elementary School auditorium.

Central’s “AcaDec” team was announced winners of this year’s Imperial County Academic Decathlon competition, beating crosstown rival Southwest High School as well as third-place finisher Imperial High School.

In her first year as the Imperial County Office of Education Student Activities Coordinator, Lee Raudales said she came to understand how well the Academic Decathlon helps the students involved in it.

“It really promotes academic knowledge and gives them discipline,” Raudales said.

“They learn to have rigorous study habits because they study for seven different tests, and they do interviews and speeches, so that helps them learn how to present in front of people,” she said.

The 29 total students from the three schools spent Friday conducting speeches and being interviewed by members of the community, including representatives from the Imperial Irrigation District, the county Office of Education and local schools.

Friday’s competition included seven tests covering a variety of subjects, and was followed up by a “super quiz” on the Civil War that saw teams of three students each square off against each other in a 30-question bout.