Pennsylvania
Academic Decathlon

Congratulations to the 2024 Pennsylvania State Champions!
Large School - Seneca Valley High School
Small School - Penns Valley High School

In accordance with the United States Academic Decathlon, we provide a competition that emphasizes diversity and well-roundedness in multiple ways.

High school students will compete in all ten areas of the Decathlon - Math, Economics, Literature, Music, Art, Science, Social Science, Essay, Speech, and Interview.

Each year's theme is different. One year might involve studying the art and music of Africa, and the next the theory of nuclear weapons during World War II. The subjects remain the same, but the emphasis changes.

The students who compete are also diverse. A full Academic Decathlon team must include students of a diverse academic background, with three divisions based on GPAs, affectionately referred to as Honors (3.8 and above), Scholastic (3.2-3.79), and Varsity (less than 3.20). All divisions contribute equally to the team score, so students who have not had as much success academically are given a chance to shine. In addition, students have the opportunity to earn medals against their GPA divisions. Honors compete against Honors, Scholastics against Scholastics, and Varsities against Varsities.

"PAAD and Academic Decathlon as a whole has been instrumental in building my study and interpersonal skills; it is a truly impactful experience."
~Gavin Cress, Class of 2025

Academic Decathlon forces all students outside their comfort zone. It is not trivia - in fact, students who rely on their prior knowledge often do not have a lot of success. It is reading and teamwork working with the provided curriculum that enables success. Your math experts will teach math to the rest of the team. Almost all students who are afraid of public speaking will learn confidence giving prepared and impromptu speeches. And everyone, including coaches, will gain appreciation for cultures and knowledge that they never thought about.

Whether you are an individual student looking for a new challenge, or a school looking for a new program, we encourage you to consider Academic Decathlon.

Both teams and individuals may register for our Round 1 scrimmage competitions, but only teams are eligible to continue to the Round 3 state championships. Individual registration for the Round 2 regional finals will vary by region - contact the appropriate regional director.

Pennsylvania Academic Decathlon is run by volunteer school staff, teachers, and former participants, and our competitions are judged by community members, teachers, and former Decathletes.

All of us run and coach Academic Decathlon in Pennsylvania because we believe in its transformational nature.

"I did it for the memes."
~Misty Zheng, Class of 2018

At its core, yes, it's students taking multiple choice tests in 7 subjects, writing an essay, giving a speech, and conducting an interview.

When you dig a little deeper, though, you find lifelong friendships forged in a common goal. You find students who thought that they committed self-sabotage with bad grades in their 9th and 10th grade years regain that confidence and get into schools they never thought they could. Students find that with a little elbow grease and friendship, maybe they weren't as bad at math as they said they were. All of our students gain public speaking confidence.

And, as coaches, you are given the ultimate task of mentorship. We often find that the relationships built with in teams and coaches extend through the college years and become the cloest thing to family that a student-coach relationship can become.

Founded in 1983 by Methacton teacher David Emery, Pennsylvania Academic Decathlon has provided quality academic competition for over 40 years.

Our State Director and Regional Directors have over 80 years of collective Academic Decathlon experience as competition coordinators, coaches, and being Decathletes themselves, and are dedicated to putting together competitions that serve students first and push them beyond their limits to achieve something greater than themselves.

Each of the three Academic Decathlon regions serves a different section of the state. Check HERE for which regional director to contact regarding new school membership.