State Champs!
Reitz Memorial High School’s Academic Decathlon team claimed the school’s eighth state championship Feb. 13-14 at Purdue University. As the team with the top overall score, Memorial advances to the national championship, which is scheduled for April in Garden Grove, Calif.
Much like athletics, academic-decathlon competitions include multiple classes based on school size. Each class competes against itself; as a result, each competition in Indiana emerges with two state champions—one from each class.
For eight of the last nine years, Memorial has won the title in its class and has competed in online National competition. Only one school—the school with the highest overall score in all the classes—travels to nationals. Memorial grabbed that top spot this year and will compete in California. This Memorial team is the first to earn this prestigious opportunity.
Memorial won team titles eight categories –Music, Science, Economics, Social Science, Speech, Language and Literature, Interview, and Math. The academic Tigers finished third in the SuperQuiz Exhibition.
Following are the individual awards claimed by Memorial’s academic decathletes:
Angela Beckerwon bronze medals in Music and in Science, silver in Economics, and gold in Social Science and Speech.
Joey Vettiankalwon silver in Science and earned golds in Economics, Language and Literature, and Math.
Austin Kuhnearnedsilvers in Music, Essay, and Math. He placed gold in Language and Literature.
Josh Schulzearned silver in Economics and golds Social Science and Language and Literature.
Courtney Morriswon silver in Economics.
Jimmy Raywon bronze in Interview and Social Science, silver Art, Math, Speech, and Language and Literature, and gold in Economics.
Alex Russowon bronze in Art and in Economics, silver in Music and in Interview, and gold in Speech. Alex’s speech was chosen for presentation during the Speech Showcase.
Keagan Kumarwon silver in Economics and gold in Language and Literature.
The competition also recognizes overall student champions, honoring their success across all 10 areas of competition.
Angela Becker won Honors Overall Silver; Josh Schulz won Scholastic Overall Silver; Alex Russo won Varsity Overall Silver. Joey Vettiankal won Honors Overall Gold; Austin Kuhn won Scholastic Overall Gold; Jimmy Ray won Varsity Overall Gold.
