After being awarded first place in this year’s Academic Decathlon competition just a few short weeks ago, the Frederick Douglass High School team now finds themselves stripped of the title due to what is being called a calculation error.
     This year was the team’s second year participating in  the city-wide competition under the leadership of  Social Studies teacher, Ms. C. Warren. The Academic Decathlon is a seven-event scholastic competition, which focuses on the areas of mathematics, language and literature, economics, art, music, science, and social science. Each high school enters a team of nine students, three being honor students, three being scholastic students, and three being varsity students.
    This year’s competition included participants from Douglass, Washington, Mays, and Jackson High Schools and was held at Ralph L. Bunche Middle School. The decathlon is described by paticipants as “a very intense process.” The competition is an all day event where students are tested in the seven subject areas, and are given two breaks, including lunch. After testing, students await  the proctors’ scores and winners of the over all competition are announced as well as  individual winners in the various subject areas.
     Douglass’ Derrick Jones was awarded Best in Mathematics and Best in Music, and senior, Aimee Turner was awarded Best in Economics. For the past six consecutive years, however, Benjamin E. Mays High School has won first place and has proceeded to the state level competition. This year, however, marked the end of their reign. Jackson High School was announced as fourth place winners, Washington third place, Mays second place, and Frederick Douglass High School was announced as first place winners.
      Shockingly, a week after the competition was over, Warren received a letter from the Atlanta Public School city-wide Academic Decathlon proctors which stated that there was an error in calculation during the scoring process. Apparently, after investigation, it was determined that the scantron of a Mays competitor was found uncalculated. After the scantron from the music area of the competition was added into the school’s overall average,  Mays,  became the first place winners.
     Decathlon team members are admittedly disappointed and confused by the miscalculation and challenge the recalculated scores, but to no avail. The new calculations will stand.
      Academic Decathlon members say that overall, the team worked very hard this year for the competition and are very proud of their  performance.  “Last year we were not prepared for the competition because we did not have any of the study materials, but this year we did have the material, we worked hard and we stood out. We learned the value of teamwork and the importance of collaboration. Our success shows how well we can perform with the necessary tools and whether we agree with the final outcome or not, I am  still very proud of our success and the way that we have handled this entire situation,” says a member of the team. “In the end, we all know who the real winners are.”