Editor:

Scarborough’s Academic Decathlon Team really brought home the gold March 8. The nine-member powerhouse: Matthew Couillard, Craig Delisle, Eric Fritz, Megan Manseau, Caterina McLean, Saerim Park, Emilia Scheemaker, Alexander Sirocki, and Alexander Whittemore are very honored to be representing Scarborough and the state of Maine at the national championship in Garden Grove, Calif. in just six weeks. 

The decathletes excelled in all 10 categories: Art, Economics, Essay, Interview, Language and Literature, Mathematics, Music, Science, Social Science, and Speech. Almost half of this year’s team had never even competed as alternates before; this would be equivalent to selecting incoming freshmen for the varsity basketball team and winning the state championship. 

  The team won the state meet with a resounding 40,088 points. Breaking the 40,000 mark is a feat rarely accomplished in the State of Maine, and competition was tough.  The decathletes won many medals in all 10 categories of competition. Not only did Scarborough retain the Super Quiz crown and the state title, but also five of the top nine highest individual positions were from Scarborough. The overall top scorer was junior Caterina McLean. The SHS AD team has now won 20 of the 24 state titles. 

This year’s themes were a big hit for the history and science buffs “The Civil War” and Epidemiology. Joe Cupo, last year’s moderator, offered to be this year’s moderator because of his great love of history and, in particular, the Civil War. The all-day competition culminates in a fast-paced Jeopardy style Super Quiz event. Here is a sample Super Quiz question:

  When South Carolina threatened to secede in 1832, based on the ideas of John C. Calhoun, the issue was

A. abolition

B. the National Bank

C. expansion

D. slavery

E. tariffs

  I thank the Scarborough School Department and the taxpaying Scarborough residents for supporting this most amazing extracurricular program. One would be hard pressed to find any other program that spans so many areas in such depth and breadth. 

  It takes unusual teachers to coach the decathletes. In addition to their own teaching jobs and busy lives, Coach Shane Davis and Coach Jon York have put in an incredible number of hours with the yearlong weekly practice sessions and special study groups, and they deserve special recognition. 

  Amazingly, four members of last year’s team, who are now in college, attended the state meet to cheer on this year’s team: Jonathan Russell, Nolan Scheemaker, Matthew Schaefer, and Matthew Sirocki.  During the course of the year, each of these individuals has returned during college breaks to help the decathletes study and to provide moral support, but SHS and AD alum Matt Schaefer deserves special thanks for spending many days of his college break grilling and coaching the team. What an incredible testimony to this amazing program.

  If you’d like to help the team reach the $10,000 goal, they will be involved in many fundraising activities. To begin with, the team will be organizing a bottle drive, selling candy bars, and collecting goods for a spring yard sale. They are also accepting tax-deductible donations – no amount is too small. Donations may be made payable to the “Scarborough High School AD Team” and mailed to: Coach Davis c/o Scarborough High School, 11 Municipal Dr., Scarborough, ME 04074. For more information, please contact: Bethany Whittemore 883-1609 or Heather Sirocki hsirock@maine.rr.com 883-5609. P.S. The answer is E.

One proud mom,

Heather Sirocki

Scarborough