Credit: Souderton Area School District
Students competed in nine-member teams in ten events, including essay, speech, interview, math, music, literature, science, social science, art, and economics.
The Souderton Area High School Academic Decathlon Team has won its seventh regional title in eight years.
On Feb. 1, students from across eastern Pennsylvania competed in the 41st annual Eastern Pennsylvania Academic Decathlon at Methacton High School. By virtue of Souderton’s regional title, the team will advance to the PA State Championships.
“It always feels great,” said SAHS Computer Science teacher and coach Phillip Cerami. “I remember Souderton habitually losing this tournament to North Penn from 2013-2017, so to flip that and have a standard of excellence in our region means a lot for our program.”
Students competed in nine-member teams in ten events, including essay, speech, interview, math, music, literature, science, social science, art, and economics. The teams were composed of three honors or “A” students, three scholastic or “B” students and three varsity or “C” students, forcing students to work together across different ability levels to learn the same content. Students could also participate in an “Alternate” division if they did not participate as a member of one of the three-student divisions listed above.
“It forces kids out of their comfort zone and to learn for each other instead of for themselves. Top students [are forced] to collaborate with students who are highly capable but not always successful in traditional school settings to achieve goals together,” said Cerami. “The great math students have to learn to love art and music, and our more theatrical kids get an appreciation for science, all while studying the same theme from so many different angles.”
The subjects this year were centered on a theme – Our Changing Climate. Six of the nine members of the Eastern PA All-Star Regional Team were Souderton students, with Senior Ahsan Rahman being awarded the individual regional champion title for the highest score in the entire competition.
In the end, Souderton scored 41,648 out of 60,000 possible points, beating 2nd place Methacton High School by 7,510 points. The victory adds to Souderton’s six prior regional titles and three state titles since the school began competing in the academic decathlon in 2013.
Members of the champion Souderton team include Ahsan Rahman, Giovanni Iervolino, and Henry Dang in the Honors Division; Aaron Im, Trina Nguyen, and Maddy Zhang in the Scholastic Division; Nate Soucier, Gideon Pham, and Jaden Nguyen in the Varsity Division, and Alex Steele, Jason Nguyen, Sofia Huang, Ryan Markus, Aayan Tahmid, Logan Sauerwald, and Caroline Stout as Alternates. The team is coached by Cerami, French teacher Sally Cushmore and math teacher Carolyn Scott.
The Pennsylvania Academic Decathlon State Championship will be hosted at Pope John Paul II High School on March 14th and 15th. The winner of the state championship will advance to the USAD National Finals in Des Moines, IA in late April. Cerami feels optimistic about the team’s chances.
“We are likely going to be the #2 seed in the state going into the state tournament,” said Cerami. “Our chief rival is Seneca Valley High School out near Pittsburgh. We have traded state championship wins with them since 2018. We won 2018, 2021, 2023, and they won 2019, 2022, 2024. So, it’s our turn?”
