Bella Vista High School Heads to State Finals

Bella Vista High School, from the San Juan Unified School District, is the winner of the 2013 Sacramento County Academic Decathlon competition. The team now advances to State Finals, which will be held in March 14-17, 2013 in Sacramento.

Folsom High School (Folsom Cordova Unified School District) finished second in the local competition and Pleasant Grove High School (Elk Grove Unified School District) placed third.

Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools David W. Gordon announced individual and team winners of the 33rd Annual Sacramento County Academic Decathlon, held February 2 at Inderkum High School. The top scorers were honored February 6 at an awards banquet presented by the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) at the CSU Sacramento University Union Ballroom.

Twenty-one high schools in Sacramento County sent teams to compete February 2 in written and oral exams at Inderkum High School. To prepare for the Academic Decathlon, students devoted months of study to the 2013 theme "Russia." Students competed for awards in 10 demanding categories: economics, art, science, social science, language/literature, mathematics, music, essay, interview, and speech.

Students received gold, silver or bronze medals for their efforts. The three top-scoring teams in Sacramento County are:

1st Place - Bella Vista (San Juan Unified School District)
2nd Place - Folsom (Folsom Cordova Unified School District)
3rd Place - Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove Unified School District)
4th Place - Del Campo (San Juan Unified School District)
5th Place - Mira Loma (San Juan Unified School District)

The school with the "most improved" score from the prior year is Pleasant Grove High School, from the Elk Grove Unified School District, which placed third overall.
SAFE Credit Union provided $10,000 in scholarships to be distributed among top-scoring students.

California's winning team advances to the U.S. Academic Decathlon in April 25-27 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.