More than 300 of the brightest students in the Houston area filled Dickinson High School January 30-31 as the school hosted the Region V Academic Decathlon Meet. You could hear a pin drop in the school's quiet vintage gymnasium where desks were moved for all students to take the different academic tests at the same time.

Academic Decathlon involves a team of up to nine students from all academic backgrounds competing against other schools in different academic areas, including language and literature, mathematics, music, economics, science, art, social science, speech, interview, essay and ending with the Super Quiz.

Each Academic Decathlon team spends a great deal of time studying as a group and individually about a new topic each year and how it relates to the different academic areas tested in Academic Decathlon. This year's topic was "New Alternatives in Energy: Ingenuity and Innovation."

The DHS team was excited to have scored higher than any DHS team from previous years, earning a combined score of 33,524.8. In each event, students earn a certain number of points depending on how well they finish. While the DHS team score was not enough to qualify to advance to the state meet, the team has already started making plans for improving their performance next year.

The DHS team members include Keene Folwell, Chris Kellagher and Itzue Leyva in the Varsity Category; Bryan Perez and David Wright in the Scholastic Category; and Anthony Azagidi, Ryan Bourland and Crystal McDuffie in the Honors Category. The team is coached by Dan Glebe and Judy Switzer.

Two of the DHS students earned medals at the meet for their performances. Chris Kellegher earned second place in the Varsity Interview Category with a near perfect score of 995 out of a possible 1000. Bryan Perez earned a perfect 1000 for Scholastic Speech, which is a major accomplishment because the speech score includes results from both a 3 ½ to 4-minute prepared speech and an impromptu speech of 1 ½ to 2-minutes in length. For the Impromptu speech, students are given a list of three topics and then they have one-minute to choose a topic and prepare to speak on that topic. To earn a perfect score means the student was judged perfectly by three judges on two different speeches.

Hosting an Academic Decathlon event is a huge undertaking for a school and thanks to many people the event at DHS was a huge success. Coordinated by Assistant Principal Julie Abram, the event wouldn't have been possible without the countless number of employee and community volunteers helping judge and oversee events, the Food and Nutrition Department providing meals, and the Maintenance Department helping set up desks and event areas.

"The event was a great experience for the 28 participating schools from Region V. We received many positive comments from the participants and their coaches on our organization and hospitality," said DHS Principal Dr. Billye Smith.

If you are interested in becoming a Dickinson High School Gator Cheerleader, a mandatory parent meeting will be held at 6 p.m. February 26 in the LGI Room at DHS. The Cheer Try-Out Clinic is from 3:15-5 p.m. March 23-26 and tryouts are scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday, March 27. For more information, contact Kimber Roque or Tracey Moore at DHS.