Students won 3rd place in the USAD competition for Division 3

SMIC-I students won 2nd place for the Division 3 Quiz Bowl and 3rd place in the USAD competition for Division 3. USAD is an annual high school academic competition that includes ten different subjects, specifically, economics, math, literature, social science, science, music, art, speech, interview, and essay. Teams that attend this academic decathlon have to participate in all of ten subjects, and will be given a grade. This academic decathlon was created since 1968 in California and expanded nationwide in 1981.

The SMIC-I school team included nine members: Chuyi Shang (10A), TingTing Xu (11B), Elyse Shan (11B), Kevin Luo (10C), Yuhan Chen (11A), Vincent Lin (11B), Nina Liao (10A), Jaebin Choi (10B), and Joy Tang (10C).

Throughout the whole preparation process, the group members always encouraged each other and worked hard in order to achieve the best result. Although the students encountered some conflicts while they were preparing for the competition, Jaebin Choi (10B), a member of the SMIC-I USAD team, said that they “became a more closely knit team after these issues were resolved.” Also, he said that “I guess I can say that we grew as individuals, and became a stronger team due to the conflicts we faced.”

USAD was a great opportunity for the nine members who participated in the competition. “This competition… [is] a very prestigious competition. Everybody, including us and [students from] other schools, studied very hard for the competition. Not only that, everyone had a good time, and we all made new friends,” said Jaebin. This competition gave students the opportunity to gain new knowledge, and to meet many friends from all over the world. Also, Jaebin said that he “learned that no matter what happens, if you work hard enough you will be rewarded eventually.”

Lastly, Jaebin Choi said that he feels “gratitude for [his] teammates as they helped [him to] join this competition and enjoy the journey till it ended. He mentioned that he “would like to thank everybody that helped us on our journey. My teammates who were encouraging me to try harder, the parents that supported us, and my friends who cheered for me.”

Featured Image– USAD students taking photo – Photo Courtesy of Joy Tang

by Candy Park