New Team Successes
Another year of Academic Decathlon Regional competitions is in the books and the Ramapo team had their best performance since 2022! The team came in second for the entire Region Two of New Jersey behind strong first and second-year starter scores, led by the veterans Cassie Tafuri Del Vecchio and Tristan Walder. The competition set out its challenges from the very beginning, starting with a tough ride on the bus to Clifton Middle School all the way from Ramapo in the early morning hours. Nonetheless, all the competitors showed up to compete!
Awards
Multiple starters were awarded plaques for scoring in the top three in their respective division, as well as 16 starter medals and 9 alternate competitor medals. Senior Cassie Tafuri Del Vecchio was awarded Team MVP for her leadership, as well as a silver medal in the highest division of Math. Senior Tristan Walder won first place Varsity Decathlete in the region with seven medals, and first place overall in Prepared Speech across the entire region. Junior Katie Oh won third place in the overall Varsity division, backed by four medals – including a gold in Art. Junior Matt Ostrovsky won third place overall in the Scholastic division and three gold medals. He was also Ramapo’s highest-scoring decathlete. Upon seeing his success, Matt said, “It was such an honor to receive all of these medals and it really showed how much all the studying paid off.” Ellie Grant, another Ramapo junior, won a bronze medal in speech as well. Medal or no medal, every decathlete from Ramapo was on cloud nine after the awards dinner decorated their teammates.
Onto the next competition
The next competition is the state-wide bout and every decathlete has studied for their scores to jump to higher levels. The decathletes have been meeting almost every day to study for this huge event. This competition is between all of the best teams from New Jersey fighting for their spot in the National Finals. Ms. Gregory, the Academic Decathlon coach alongside Ms. Noah has high hopes for this competition. She stated with confidence, “I thought we had put in a lot of hard work but it’s nothing compared to how much effort we have put in for states. It won’t even touch the preparation we will do if we make it to Nationals in Pittsburgh.” The competition is in Westwood on Saturday, March 2nd, and will take up most of the day. The decathletes must not allow fatigue to get in their way of success beyond a regional level. Wish them luck as they go off onto the next level of competition!
