Skip To Main Content

Souderton Academic Decathlon 4th in Division I at Academic Decathlon National Finals

Academic Decathlon Students

From April 26-30, students from across the nation competed in the 55th annual United States Academic Decathlon National Finals, held at the Embassy Suites and Convention Center in the city of Frisco, Texas. Souderton placed 9th overall out of 55 state champion and at-large teams, which is a Souderton record for highest final ranking in the nation, and in Division I (large schools), they placed 4th, which is the highest that any Division I school representing Pennsylvania has ever placed.

Students competed in ten events – essay, speech, interview, math, music, literature, science, social science, art, and economics, in nine-member teams composed of three honors or “A” students, three scholastic or “B” students, and three varsity or “C” students, forcing teams to work together across different ability levels to learn the same content. Students are recognized within these GPA divisions in each subject of the Decathlon.

The subjects this year were centered on a theme – The American Revolution. Students earned 8 medals in Division I, setting a new school record.

Souderton scored 40,223 out of 60,000 possible points, with national champion El Camino Real Charter HS from California taking the national championship with 49,121 points. Souderton has been competing in the Academic Decathlon since 2013 and has won 5 Eastern PA regional titles and 3 PA state titles, also representing PA at the national finals in 2018 and 2021 in addition to 2023. The team is coached by computer science teacher Phil Cerami, mathematics teacher Carolyn Scott, and French teacher Sally Cushmore.

Members of the Souderton Academic Decathlon team are Marcus Smith, Ashley Caputo, and Kyle Berdy in the Honors Division, Shane Raab, Nolan Hughes, and El Ross in the Scholastic Division, and Andy Cruz, Josh Ubele, and Gabe Smola in the Varsity Division, with Mahreen Parvez and Levi Lewis as captains and student coaches during the event.

Academic Decathlon Team

Division I (Large School State Champion) Results

1st EL CAMINO REAL CHARTER HS CA  49,121
2nd WHITNEY M. YOUNG MAGNET HS IL 47,835
3rd DULLES HS TX 47,799
4th SOUDERTON AREA HS PA 40,223
5th  MOUNTAIN VISTA HS CO 39,848
6th CEDAR RAPIDS JEFFERSON HS IA 38,879
7th THOMAS JEFFERSON TECH HS VA 34,065
8th HACKENSACK HS NJ 33,789
9th PUNAHOU SCHOOL HI 25,428

INDIVIDUAL MEDALS – SOUDERTON AREA HS

Honors Division I (3.8-4.0)

  • Marcus Smith – Bronze in Social Science
  • Ashley Caputo – Silver in Essay, Bronze in Interview
  • Kyle Berdy – Bronze in Science

Scholastic Division I (3.2-3.8)

  • El Ross – Bronze in Literature

Varsity Division (0.0-3.2)

  • Andy Cruz – Gold in Science and Interview
  • Josh Ubele – Silver in Speech