Johnston Academic Decathlon wins 3rd in State
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (March 3, 2024) — Johnston Academic Decathlon team has come home with substantial awards from the state tournament! Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School hosted the two-day event, where each student competes in 10 different events: speech, interview, essay, art history, economics, social science, music history, literature, math, and science. The theme of the curriculum this year was Technology and Humanity.
Our team scored a total of 30,298.3 points over those events, taking home the third place trophy.
In addition to our overall finish and individual medals, senior Decathlete Ava Thornton won the Academic Decathlon Board of Directors scholarship. This $500 prize is awarded via a competitive essay process, and will be directed to any location where Ava continues her education.
It’s been a great season, and we look forward to next year’s theme, The Changing Climate.
The state team is listed below, each with their individual awards.
Honors Division:
Peyton Brown: Bronze in Music, Bronze in Math, Silver in Economics, Gold in Literature
Ben Cramer: Silver in Literature, Gold in Economics
Sophie Wall: Bronze in Science, Gold in Music
Scholastic Division:
Jackson Lansink: Bronze in Economics
Reagan Zierke: Silver in Speech
Dima Al-Qasi
Varsity Division:
Laura Thangi: Bronze in Speech
Syd Dennis: Bronze in Math, Bronze in Science
Lili Verzani
Joe Cramer placed 2nd overall amongst Honors alternates, and won Bronze in Art, Silver in Math, Silver in Literature, and Silver in Social Science