On Jan. 29, the academic decathlon took place at Jefferson High School, Kennedy had three participants. All other teams had nine, putting Kennedy at disadvantage. Tori Paga, Lucas Horton, and Aiden McGrane didn’t let that stop them. 

“The decathlon was nerve racking because I didn’t know much about them nor what they were going to be like. I was stressed taking the test but persevered, making the most out of it,” Horton said. 

Since COVID-19, recruitment for the decathlon team was difficult and it was hard to find participants. With three participants and other teams with nine or more they knew it was going to be hard to keep up. 

“I was excited to sign up but didn’t know if we were going to do a decathlon this year after COVID-19,” McGrane said. 

“The decathlon made me nervous but was also exciting, there was a chance we wouldn’t go very far since we had three people,” Paga said. I was more excited to be there and get this experience rather than thinking of it as a competition. I was just hoping for the best.” 

With only 30 minutes per test and 50 questions to answer, the participants felt overwhelmed. If they wanted to have more time they would have to take it away from their other test. 

“It was my first time doing something like this but I knew I had studied and was prepared for them. It was nerve racking only having three people, I wish we would have had more but I knew the people we did have were ready and prepared,”McGrane said.  

According to McGrane, the name academic decathlon can be intimidating. 

“If we could have a bigger team next year and become more official I will absolutely be doing it again next year,”Horton said.

With only three members this year the team had itś fair share of obstacles to overcome, but they are all looking forward to next year.

“I will absolutely be doing it again and I think anyone could sign up and be a part of this,” McGrane said.