After a year of hard work and studying, Venice High’s Academic Decathlon team came home with medals and honors from the LAUSD Academic Decathlon Competition on Jan. 30 and Feb. 6.

The team as a whole, in Conference 1, was the second place team in math and third place in essay, economics, and science.

In LAUSD, all the competing schools, 58 total this year, are split into conferences. Venice is in Conference 1 along with Westchester, Hamilton, LACES, Palisades, University, Manual Arts and West Adams High Schools.

Venice was ranked 29th in LAUSD in terms of total number of points won in the entire competition.

The competition was held at Roybal Learning Center for two days, Jan. 30 and Feb. 6. The first day of competition was speech, interview and essay events. The second day was the Super Quiz Relay, where questions from subjects of Art, Economics, Literature, Music, Science, and Social Science were asked. The awards ceremony was on Feb. 12 in Hollywood High School.

The students who competed were Emily Lui, Marsy Mateo, Colin Chun, Orlance Shirley, Maria Hernandez, Karla Herrera, Ruben Garcia and Edwin Martinez.

Juniors Marsy Mateo and Ruben Garcia won a bronze medal in interview and a silver medal in interview, respectively. Sophomore Colin Chun received an honorable mention in science.

“I kept my judges entertained, didn’t have yes-or-no answers, and elaborated as much as I could,” said Garcia, regarding his interview.

Senior Emily Lui, who has been president of the team for two years, has been a member since her sophomore year.

“I hope we get together a team that’s dedicated and will go to state next year,” said Lui.

Ms. Jennifer Lisowski, the team coach, says that the group had a lot of enthusiasm and team spirit. She hopes that next year’s team will reach the top 20 in LAUSD.

“I think the way the team worked together to improve was the most successful [factor]”, said Lisowski.

Mateo and Chun will be co-presidents of next year’s team.

“We hope to get most improved team, and get in the top three of our conference,” said Mateo, when asked about goals for next year. She also hopes to get into the state conference.

“It’s hard, but it’s been our goal every year,” she said, referring to entering state.

Since competition ended, the team has started recruiting and swearing in new officers.

Academic Decathlon meets every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after school in Room 108. People who are interested in joining can attend those meetings.