Academic Decathalon
In March of 2026, St Catherine of Siena’s Decathlon team competed in the Junior High Academic Decathlon in the San Francisco Archdiocese. That day we made history, as we became the first St Catherine team to take 1st overall in the entire competition. We made it to Nationals, where we finished 6th best team in the Nation. But this amazing feat did not happen with a couple days of revision.
As captain of the 10 member team, our preparation started way before the competition date March 6th. As a team we had to get ready for 3 different aspects of the Decathlon. The logic portion, Individual subject testing, and the biggest one being the Super Quiz. Lets go a little more in depth about each one
2026 Academic Decathlon Details
My role was being the Captain of the team, and the Generalist. Being a generalist meant you had to be confident with every single subject in the Super Quiz. You also get to participate in the Logic portion, but NOT the individual.
Subjects in Decathlon
Every year they change the books for every subject.
Science
Social Studies
Religion
Math
Grammar
Literature
Fine Arts
Current Events
Logic- Placed First
Each 10 members of the team participated in this segment of the competition.
Included logical reasoning, pattern recognition,word problems,sudoku,
kakuro , logical fallacies, and more.
Individual Testing
Me and the other generalist did not participate in this portion of the competition.
8 people with 8 different subjects did their testing in the following subjects
Science- 3rd
Social Studies-1st
Religion
Math-2nd
Grammar
Literature- 3rd
Fine Arts- 4th
Current Events
Super Quiz
This is MY Super Bowl! Instead of all 8 subjects being asked questions of, only 5 subjects were asked of. Questions were asked in a way that they asked a question over the microphone, and we had to give the answer through ABCDE, on a card we held up!
Science
Social Studies
Religion
Fine Arts
Literature
The following subjects that have been bolded, are the ones that I have worked day and night to memorize and be ready for this moment.
Now that I have told you about the details of the competition, let me tell you the process in which we prepared, and how as a leader I managed a group of 9 other teammates.
The Plan
For a competition this big, we needed to lay out the groundwork for everyone. This was our third year doing the AcaDeca, and the previous 2 years were not how we wanted it to go. We knew a plan was needed, and we had to execute it before gameday. So, I built a plan, and I knew that if we followed day by day, we would win this whole thing.
I understood that we needed to build the values as a team of hard work, accountability, and consistency. As a leader I needed to build these key team values. I started being more strict, and asking people questions like whether they completed the pages they were assigned to read, or were they practicing their logic. I had to be upfront with the team, if they weren't putting their 100% and had to talk to people who weren’t doing their respective job. I had to be an attentive Captain, and couldn’t let small mistakes get past me.
All the work shouldn’t fall on one person. As Captain, I knew we had to shake up the system to win. This year I divided the work up between 2-3 people, so all the work didn’t fall on one person. Instead of one person working on 100 pages, we had 3 people working specific sections of those 100 pages. This method was the most effective way to memorize and didn’t put all the pressure on one person. And evidently this method worked.
We needed help! Parents who gave their time to ask us questions from the book, went through chapters with us, and helped us prepare for the competition. Thankfully help was on its way! Both my parents volunteered multiple hours of hard work to shape us into a championship DNA team.
The Pep Talk
Before any big game, or test you always have one person give the team a pep talk. This talk makes their blood boil, makes them more fierce. But my Pep Talks were a little less fierce and nicer :)
I told them during and before the competition that I am very proud of them and all their hard work that they have put into this. That no matter what happens we have all learned something new, made new relationships, and brought the best possible version of us. We weren’t there to participate, we are here to win! To compete to its highest level, with the highest competition! A strong pep talk always works in these situations.
What I Learned From This Experience?
This competition wasn’t all about memorizing, and ranking high. For me it was a competition of character building, and how to be a strong leader. The following are some of the things I took from being a leader of 13 and 14 year old kids.
The value of being a leader. When you are a leader, you have so much power to influence others for the good. You can steer them in the right direction, and make them work hard. Many people don’t realize that. You have to use that power to do good, and never ever take advantage of that power, to use it for your own personal gain.
Power of patience. Trust me when I say this, but being the head of anything, requires a boatload of patience. For me, I exhibited a ton of patience in this competition. Whether it was waiting for someone to finish up their reading, waiting for a person to answer an obvious question, or the worst one, asking someone to do something, but it never happens. I am so glad I got to go through these experiences at such a young age, so I could start developing the virtue of patience.
Listen to your team. When you have so much power over the team, leaders tend to forget this one simple thing. Not just listening, but understanding what your team is telling you to do, and acting on it. Whether it is just a simple suggestion, or something to work on further, these simple moments build trust within the team. A team that feels heard and respected shows up ready to work, and has more energy. A leader that listens and respects his teammates, never has to demand loyalty. It comes naturally.
Trust! How simple this word may seem, but it is one of the hardest things to build within a team. I had to trust my team when it came to the Super Quiz that we were holding up the right placard, or when we were in the logic portion that everybody did their 100%. I picked up that trust doesn’t work just one way. It works with everybody. Your teammates have to have trust in you, and in one another. And that for me was the formula to win.
Have fun. Thank God for something easy to talk about. In an academic competition it is a little harder to have fun, compared to an athletic one. But still during practice sessions, and logic reviews we as a team still had a ton of fun. Forget winning, studying, and memorizing, the little fun moments made it so much more memorable!
I hope you enjoyed learning more about my journey as Captain of the Academic Decathlon Team 2026 taking 1 st place in the Archdiocese, and 6 th place in the Nation!
Arjun Mehra