DAYTONA BEACH | One hundred fifty students, their coaches, and spectators all gathered in the Father Lopez gymnasium March 1, 2025, to clamor and cheer for their teams in the National Catholic Academic Junior High Decathlon.

Established in 1989 for sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders, this is the first year the Diocese of Orlando Catholic schools participated, and even hosted the event for the state.

After hearing about the event at the Catholic Leadership Seminar last summer, Patricia Dailey, associate superintendent of education for the diocese, said she noticed there were no schools in Florida participating. She aimed to fix that. Hearing others share, “their energy and excitement about how wonderful of an experience it was for both the academic coaches and for the middle school students” motivated her to make sure Florida’s Catholic schools joined the competition.

To select the schools, the Office of Catholic Schools looked at the most recent Terra Nova Assessment scores and invited the top 10 schools to participate. Stephen Dole, associate superintendent, led the organization effort.

“Because it’s an academic decathlon, we wanted to showcase, highlight, and honor the schools that were consistently working hard to perform well,” Dole said. He was pleasantly surprised to have so many teams come forward.

Seven of the 10 schools selected chose to participate. Dole also invited the Archdiocese of Miami and Diocese of St. Augustine Catholic schools to join them. Ultimately, 15 teams from the state represented Catholic schools.

Receiving materials just before the new year, the teams had two months to prepare. “They’ve had to read a lot of books over the last couple of months. They’ve had to practice,” Dole said. “It’s not just show up with the 10 smartest kids and see who has the highest IQ or most knowledge.”

While Florida ran their competition, all the other 14 participating state teams ran their own simultaneously.

Composed of three sections, two parts are collaborative efforts —a Logic Quiz with 20 rigorous thinking problems, and a Super Quiz with 50 multiple choice questions on five broad academic themes, according to the decathlon website. The remaining eight events tested individual knowledge of the Roman Catholic doctrine, English, literature, science, mathematics, current events, social studies and fine arts.

Students came dressed in personalized academic decathlon t-shirts, parents with signs and pom-poms, and teams brought tents and food. Excitement was in the air. Spectators could only be present for the Super Quiz portion, and they showed their gratitude.

“It was like you were cheering at a basketball or volleyball game, but instead it was for academics which was pretty cool,” said Katie Walsh, principal of St. Margaret Mary Catholic School in Winter Park. She said the Super Quiz entailed all oral questions. “Those were the hardest questions. It was unbelievable. Everybody could observe what the different groups did with that.”

After meeting with her team for the first time in January, Sandra Hoff, St. Margaret Mary decathlon coach, told Walsh, “That was one of the most enjoyable moments I had as a teacher. Working with students who are so bright and think out of the box, that is a gift to be able to watch.”

And her team did not disappoint. After strategizing how to divide the heavy content, Hoff said she simply facilitated, and the students made the decisions.

“There were a lot of puzzle pieces to put in place,” she said. Having taught many of the students, she “knew their talents and how to harvest that. I think what was really important during the decathlon was for the team to collaborate, to become one, and for the team to communicate.”

Logan L. is the eighth-grader who represented the team in the religion category. Walsh described her as “cool as a cucumber.” Logan said she expected to be nervous, but her team kept her calm. Logan and a friend run a Bible study to which she credited “practicing public speaking and helping train (her) nerves.”

The team ran mock competitions in all subject areas. Eighth-grader Olivia J. represented current events. She placed second in the category.

“(The decathlon) is a really fun way to be competitive with other schools, not necessarily through sports, but by using our knowledge, our brains to compete against other schools. It sounded like a fun opportunity,” she said. “It was a lot of preparation and study. All the studying paid off in the end because we won first place overall which was exciting.”

St. Margaret Mary will participate in the national competition March 14.

Joining them in the individual categories of religion and current events will be seventh grade students from St. Mary Magdalen in Altamonte Springs, Isabella D. and Siege R. respectively.

“I was nervous about it,” Isabella said. “I didn’t think I was going to win. I was really surprised because I didn’t expect it at all. I liked the experience. It was nice and winning was a big deal for me.”

Siege was particularly thrilled since he was an alternate. When the lead could not make it, he stepped in. As a part of the gifted program (CAPS) at St. Mary Magdalen, he was used to similar competitions.

“It was also fun to learn to study in different ways and find out what study (methods) were the best,” Siege said. He said he thought the new methods he learned will help him during his school career.

Sixth-grader Ethan B. represented the school in science. He said if he is selected next year, he will definitely do it again. He appreciated interacting and cooperating with other people and how it was a group event.

“I really liked how the study connected to all different parts of arrangements. That’s why I like science — because formulas connect to math, which connects to chemistry, and revolves around everything.”

Betsy Moricle, served as the teens’ coach. She said they only had about 45 minutes together per week, basically to check in.

“A lot of the prep was done on their own time, which is impressive,” she said. “They really came to the table on this and I’m super proud of them.”

Having participated in similar competitions, Moricle said it was great “community building for St. Mary Magdalen. We enjoyed each other which was so neat about it.”

Kilian J., an eighth-grader at St. James Cathedral School, took first place in English. Kilian participated in history competitions in the past and found it interesting to focus on different subjects.

“I’m super excited about national competition,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot about being part of a team and trusting what everyone knows about their individual topics.”

Debbie Condron, St. James’ coach and English teacher, said she has known Kilian for two years.

“I know what a hardworking and dedicated student she is,” Condron said. “She always strives to do her best and I knew that quality would take her far in the competition.”

The teams will meet their national competitors March 14 in a virtual duel.

By Glenda Meekins of the Florida Catholic staff, March 06, 2025