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ASU to host Arizona State Academic Decathlon March 8-9


March 08, 2013

Arizona State University’s West Campus is hosting the Arizona State Academic Decathlon competition on March 8 and 9, welcoming 360 competitors from 40 Arizona high schools.

This was made possible by the opening of the Sun Devil Fitness Complex at West, which will host Super Quiz, the only public event of the competition, at 1:45 p.m., March 9.

Around 700 guests and competitors are expected to attend the event in the brand new gym. Laurie Manchester, an associate professor of history from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will emcee the Super Quiz event.

This will be followed by an awards ceremony, also in the gym, emceed by Mistalene Calleroz White, dean of students at the West campus. By the end of the state competition, the competitors will have written an essay, performed a prepared and impromptu speech, been interviewed, taken seven multiple choice tests and answered 6 multiple choice questions in front of an audience.

ASU has a strong commitment to Arizona Academic Decathlon and sees many competitors become Sun Devils. The university offers scholarships to members of each of the four winning regional teams as well as to top scorers at the competition.

Each November, ASU hosts a student clinic for academic decathlon teams. University faculty and students give presentations on the art, economics, language & literature, math, music, science and social science topics of each year’s competition, which revolved around a central theme. This year’s competition theme is Russia.

The goal of Academic Decathlon is to promote, motivate and acknowledge excellence in academic efforts and educational achievement through a program of academic competitions for high school students of all scholastic achievement levels.