The Souderton Area High School Academic Decathlon Team won its sixth regional title in seven years. On February 3rd, students from across eastern Pennsylvania competed in the 40th annual Eastern Pennsylvania Academic Decathlon, held at Methacton High School. By virtue of Souderton’s regional title, they advance to the PA State Championships being hosted at Carlisle High School on March 8th and 9th. The winner of the state championship will advance to the USAD National Finals in Pittsburgh, PA in late April.

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 could also participate in an “Alternate” division if they did not participate as a member of one of the three-student divisions listed above.

The subjects this year were centered on a theme – Technology and Humanity. 7 of the 9 members of the Eastern PA All-Star Regional Team were Souderton students, with Junior Ahsan Rahman being awarded the individual regional champion title for the highest score in the entire competition.

Souderton students scored 39,344 out of 60,000 possible points, beating 2nd place Methacton High School by 7,005 points. Souderton has been competing in the Academic Decathlon since 2013 and has won 6 regional titles and 3 state titles in that time.

Members of the champion Souderton team are Ahsan Rahman, Giovanni Iervolino, and Alexander Espenship in the Honors Division, Aaron Jones, Isaac Brown, and Aaron Im in the Scholastic Division, Will Canavan, Lucas McDonough, and Sam Cottom in the Varsity Division, and Caroline Stout, Ryan Markus, Trina Nguyen, Alexander Steele, Jenna DeCarme, Aayan Tahmid, Kim Rothenberger, and Henry Dang as Alternates.

The team is coached by Souderton Area High School Computer Science teacher Phil Cerami, French
teacher Sally Cushmore, and Math teacher Carolyn Scott.