page_title: United States Academic Decathlon
section_title: National championship
hierarchical_section_title: United States Academic Decathlon / National championship
caption_attribution_description: "President Barack Obama meets with Moorpark High School Academic Decathlon team on Wednesday. From left are Zyed Ismailjee, Kris Sankaran, Sarah Thiele, Neil Paik, Marlena Sampson, President Barack Obama, Kari Geiger, coach Larry Jones, Danielle Hagglund, Michael Fantauzzo, Scott Buchanan and Sol Moon."
context_page_description: The Academic Decathlon is an annual high school academic competition organized by the non-profit United States Academic Decathlon. The competition consists of seven objective multiple choice tests, two subjective performance events, and an essay. Academic Decathlon was created by Robert Peterson in 1968 for local schools in Orange County, California and was expanded nationally in 1981 by Robert Peterson, William Patton, first President of the new USAD Board; and Phillip Bardos, Chairman of the new USAD Board. That year, 17 states and the District of Columbia participated, a number that has grown to include most of the United States and some international schools. Patton and Bardos served on the board in these two executive positions for the first 10 years of the USAD and not only personally contributed significantly both financially and in personal effort to the organization in those early day when there were no corporate sponsors they, along with Robert Peterson, were the major three factors in bringing corporate sponsors to the program during these challenging growth years eventually resulting in a financially self sustaining organization.
context_section_description: The National Championship pits the winning school from each state against all the others for an overall title. Occasionally, a number of international schools compete as well. Schools compete based on size and are divided into three divisions (I, II, and III). However, this separation is limited to overall team score and overall individual score. Nine overall team medals are awarded: gold, silver and bronze for each division. Similarly, 27 overall individual medals are awarded: gold, silver and bronze for Honors, Scholastic and Varsity in each division. The top prepared speeches are honored at the Speech Showcase, while the rest of the medals—for example, gold in art for Honors, or silver in math for Varsity—are awarded to the top scoring persons during the awards banquet regardless of division. Other awards given out include the Kristin Caperton Award for overcoming personal or physical challenges, among others. Certain awards occasionally come with monetary prizes; these often vary from year to year. Since the first national event in 1982, all National Championship winners have come from three states: California, Texas and Wisconsin. As of 2019, Granada Hills Charter High School has won seven national titles in the past nine years.
caption: President Barack Obama with the Academic Decathlon team from Moorpark High School, the 2009 National Champions. Winning teams have often been invited to meet the President of the United States.[125][126]
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