Academic Decathlon competed in the Irving Invitational Saturday with seven of 13 students earning awards in at least one event. 

“We usually use the invitational the gauge where we are a team so then we can do better at Districts, which is when the team is actually deceived based on the top scores,” junior Sofia Calderon said via text. “Last year we didn’t have lots of participation, especially in lower categories, but this year the invitational really showed how hard all of us are working; we almost placed in every category so that was fulfilling. The team dynamic is also great this year which is super important when you have to endure 8 hours of testing.”

Academic Decathlon sponsor Gary Mumford hopes to use Saturday’s invitational to lay the groundwork for future competitions.

“It lets the students know whether or not they’re ready for this or not,” Mumford said. “They get to see how they do compared to each other, because this isn’t the actual team yet, they have to actually do there’s a competition in December.”

Placing fourth in Scholastic Music, sophomore Robby Violante knows he can do better.

“Given my score, especially compared to like my previous testing competitions, I feel like it definitely wasn’t up to the level that I know I could achieve,” Violante said. “Being that this time I only really like meddled in one subject, and it was fourth, I feel like I know what areas I’m weak and what I need to strengthen for a future competition, so that I can hopefully achieve more individually.”