What do the Dutch East India Company, the Congo, and salty pretzels have in common? They were all topics on everyone’s tongue at the PUHSD Academic Decathlon Scrimmage held at Maryvale High School on Friday – Saturday, November 18th-19th. Students from Bioscience in addition to eleven other schools from our district, University High School (Tolleson), Washington High School (Glendale) and Summit High School competed in ten events – Essay, Prepared and Impromptu Speeches, Interview, Language & Literature, Music, Science, Art, Economics, Mathematics, Super Quiz (written) and Super Quiz Relay.
A wise person once said luck is where preparation meets opportunity. Since the 
announcement of the new year’s special topics in March, students have been preparing by gaining knowledge and understanding of imperialism, colonialism, West African art, romanticism in music (by the way, one of the class favorites this year is Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CHqhsMP80E), rehearsing prepared speeches, practicing impromptu speeches, reviewing Heart of Darkness and reviewing mathematics and applying it to principles of physical science.
Their preparation received special recognition as several of them received coveted medals for their outstanding performance. Specific highlights include the following:
Gerardo Calderón – third place in music (honors division)
Luis Moreno – third place in music (scholastic division)
Taite Higgins – third place in music (varsity division)
Carlos Alvarado – third place in science (honors division)
Alec Kindall – FIRST place in mathematics (honors division), also highest overall in mathematics, third place in interview (honors division)
Ernesto Luna – third place in interview tie (honors division)
Additionally no small feat:
Brandon Beltrán – answering correctly four of the five questions in Super Quiz Relay
Ernesto Luna – answering correctly all five of the questions in Super Quiz Relay
Overall Bioscience placed sixth of the fifteen schools present. Students participating 
were Rahat Alam, Carlos Alvarado, Gerardo Calderón, De Shaun Harris, Alex Long, Luis Moreno, Brandon Beltrán, Taite Higgins, Rogelio Vargas, Ariel Hernández, Alec Kindall, Ernesto Luna, Sergio Nicolas, Vasthy Lamadrid, André Zamora, Leah Neswood, and Havell Markus.
Students will continue to diligently prepare for the regional competition in February.
Be sure to congratulate these scholars on their fine performance, and ask about those salty pretzels!
