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GCI
Alaska Academic Decathlon
We hope to see many new
schools taking the GCI Alaska Academic
Decathlon Challenge. The
following information explains some of the basics of this all-academic program
for high school students.
Each complete team is made up of a total of nine students. Team members may be
in 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade. As long as they are in high school full-time,
they qualify. A full-time student is defined as a student who is enrolled in
four or more class periods per day.
Each team should have three students in each
of the three grade point average categories of:
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Honors 3.75-4.00 GPA
-
Scholastic 3.00-3.74 GPA
-
Varsity 0.00-2.99 GPA
Contestants
may compete in a higher division than their grade point average category, but
not in a lower division. GPA's are determined from the last two complete years
of transcripts and must be verified by the coach and then the State Director.
Schools are encouraged to bring one alternate for each of the three GPA
categories to the State Competition.
Each
team member competes in all ten events of the Decathlon and is eligible for
individual medals in all ten events. Only six scores count for the final team
standing in the competition:
Therefore,
schools may enter with fewer than nine members and still be eligible for team
awards as long as there are at least two Honor, two Scholastic and two Varsity
members. Some teams come to the State Competition with even less than six
students and that is OK, too. In this case, the team is coming for experience and
individual participation. They are encouraged to do this as it helps new
schools become involved and allows very small schools to participate.
Because Alaska has so many
small and remote schools, Alaska has a special way of bringing some teams
together. If your school is an ASAA regulated 1A, 2A, or 3A school; in other
words, if your school has 401 students or less as of October 1st of the previous
year, then you may have a "combined
team". A combined
team is a team of students from different high schools within the same
district. In the rural areas of Alaska, this is sometimes the only way to
get a team together. However, if your school is regulated as a 4A school, or has
402 students or more, then you may not have a combined team and all team members
must be from one high school. This ruling allows for small rural schools to have
a team and ensures that the larger schools do not form an *All-star* team with a
large group of students to pull from.
Registration fee per team is $550.00 and is non-refundable. Registration fee and
the Intent to Participate form are due in early November.
The entry fee is waived for any school participating for the first time!
Each year
new curriculum
materials are created by national experts who establish the theme.
These curriculum materials are used as study guides for the program.
Teams may purchase enough materials for a team of nine students for about
$500.00. Often teams raise funds
for their curriculum materials and for their travel to the State Competition,
held in February or March of each year in Anchorage.
The team that wins the state competition is eligible to represent Alaska at the
United States Academic Decathlon National Competition held each April. The
Sponsors of the GCI Alaska Academic Decathlon will provide travel and accommodations
for the National Competition.
This unique program allows students with an “A” “B” or lower GPA to
compete against their peers for scholarships. The GCI Alaska Academic Decathlon
awards a total of nine $1,000 scholarships to the top three individual students in
each category of Honor, Scholastic and Varsity. Additional scholarships are made
available from Rural Alaska Honors
Institute, UAA,
UAF,
APU, UASE, DeVry and other educational
institutes.
If you have any other
questions about the program, contact your State Director or access the
USAD web
site.
Isn’t it time your school
takes the GCI
ALASKA ACADEMIC DECATHLON challenge?
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