The 2005-06 San Bernardino County Academic Decathlon was held on two consecutive Saturdays, January 28 and February 4, at Arroyo Valley High School in San Bernardino.  The scholastic contest pitted students from 30 high schools in 12 school districts and one private school against one another in a number of academic disciplines.  This year's theme: The European Renaissance, and the Super Quiz topic "The European Renaissance: Renewal and Reform" provided a challenge, powerful academic growth, and tremendous rewards for the students involved.  The Fontana Unified School District was well represented in the Academic Decathlon by teams from A.B. Miller, Fontana, and Kaiser High School.

Like the Decathlon of the ancient Greeks, the San Bernardino County Academic Decathlon consists of ten exacting and exciting competitions.  But, while the Greek events were contests of physical strength, the San Bernardino County event is a test of academic strength and endurance.  Teams are composed of nine students, three from each of the grade point categories of “A” (Honors), “B” (Scholastic), and “C” (Varsity).  There were written tests in the areas of math, economics, science, language/literature, music, art and social science.  Students wrote an essay, faced a panel of interviewers and gave impromptu and prepared speeches.  For the finale, teams competed in a Super Quiz, a college bowl-style event consisting of 30 multiple-choice questions.

Fontana Unified School District was proud to have teams from each of its comprehensive high schools participate in the Academic Decathlon - in fact, Kaiser High School had two teams.  Overall, Kaiser High School finished in fourth place, Fontana High school came in 10th place, and A.B. Miller finished in 28th place.  This year's San Bernardino County Academic Decathlon Champions, Redlands High School, will compete at the California Academic Decathlon held in Los Angeles on March 16-19, 2006.

Congratulations to all our FUSD Academic Decathlon teams and coaches!