60+ students to compete in NYS Section III Academic Decathlon January 24

On Saturday, January 24, 67 students from the Cazenovia, Liverpool, Tully, West Genesee and Westhill school districts will compete in the 2015 New York State Section III Academic Decathlon Competition at Westhill High School (4501 Onondaga Boulevard) in Syracuse. The event is coordinated by the Onondaga-Cortland-Madison Board of Cooperative Educational Services (OCM BOCES).

The theme of this year’s event is "New Alternatives in Energy: Ingenuity and Innovation." The Decathlon will begin at 8:30 a.m., with students engaging in a series of paper and pencil tests, with two 10-minute breaks, through 1:05 p.m. At 1:45 p.m., the “Super Quiz” (oral relay) portion of the competition will begin as students respond to questions in front of an audience. The Awards Ceremony will follow the Super Quiz.

The three highest scoring teams will advance to the New York State Competition February 27th & 28th at the State University of New York at Brockport. The state winner will go on to represent New York state at the United States Academic Decathlon (USAD) competition, which is scheduled for April 16th –18th in Garden Grove, California.

Since it began as a local academic competition in California in 1968, the USAD has grown to become an international event for students in grades 9-12. The Decathlon promotes well roundedness by providing competition for each team in several events, including the team-based Super Quiz oral relay and objective tests in art, math, science, music, economics, literature and social science.

For more information about the 2015 New York State Section III Academic Decathlon, call Elaina Renfrew, OCM BOCES’ Coordinator of Educational Services and Academic Decathlon Sectional Coordinator, at (315) 431-8598.

Participants and coaches are:

Cazenovia – Coach: Ben Wightman

Contestants:  Shao Demyttenaere, Alexander Dubin, Emma Nuñez, Katherine Boone, Munya Fashu-Kanu, Michael Gugino, Brock Houghton, Sydney Levinson and Joseph Mevec

Liverpool – Coach: Daryl Burrer

Contestants: Emela Mesic, Shyam Patel, Isaiah Battoe, Robert Fogarty, Tyler Marquart and Tabrina Clark

Tully – Coaches: Kim Cameron and Pat Votra

Contestants: Julie Kunnumpurath, Bradley Phelps, Katie Warner, Hunter Griffin, Peyton Wolf, Matthew Wood, Peter Barletta and Jake Hutton
Alternates: Alexandra Becker, Julia Coffin, Cassidy McGinn, Sara Reppenhagen, Samuel Sheldon, Jessica Swift and Emily Teeter

West Genesee – Coach: Scott Duda

Contestants: Josh Mattice, Devyn Ottman, Claire Thomas, Nathan Gillette, John Lisi, Domtilla Magunga, James Sandefur, Vadim Shakhov and Kayla Smith
Alternates: Katherine Baldwin, Sabrina Bormann, Dylan Casolare, Kelsee Darling, Colleen Denny, Jenna Hickey, Jordan Koster, Sara Melendez and Emily Vetter

Westhill – Coaches: Michele Baker and Sarah Fleming

Contestants: Stephen Burgay, Molly Clark, Joseph Montemayor, Hannah Centore, Noah Centore, Elizabeth Meluni, Nathan Mevec, Aden Orzell and Holden White
Alternates: John Clancy, Vaughn Crimi, Amanda Cruty, Alexander Feliu, Connor Feliu, Alaina Kenny, Clayton Markham, Luke Puglisi, John Savage and Holden White