At Valley we do have academic competitions that include other students in
addition to ELP. In the Knowledge Bowl we had six teams compete for
the three team spots in the official competition to be held on November 8
at 2:45 in our school (each school competes via a computer competition at
their own school for this level of the competition). The top twenty
teams in the district will then compete on November 30 in Des Moines.
In the past we have had all three of our teams go on to this level of the
competition.
Our Academic Decathlon Team includes 16 students, several who are not ELP
students. This competition occurs in February with the state
competition in March. The preparation begins in September.
Last year we were first in our region and third in state competition and
we placed one student in the top six scorers in the state. We
complete against schools who have Academic Decathlon as a part of their
curriculum and with coaches who are paid as well as athletic coaches.
Mock Trial also includes several students who do not participate in ELP.
Our organizational meeting will be on Nov. 27 in the Valley cafeteria at
7:00 p.m. As a building we are allowed to have six teams with two of
them being designated as independent. This competition is held in
March and practice begins in earnest in December.
In the past we have also had a successful Science Bowl team. This
year, however, no science teacher is willing to coach a team because there
is no funding for a coaching stipend.
It is becoming harder and harder to include non-ELP students in these competitions because the number of ELP students at the secondary level is growing. Also the lack of monetary stipends for academic competitions (except for $800 for Mock Trial) make it hard to get the experts in the different disciplines to be willing to help coach the teams. All these teams meet outside the school day and outside the curriculum. This lack of coaching stipends puts us at a disadvantage when we compete against other schools where the coaches are more highly paid and spend more time preparing the students. For example, in each of the high schools in Des Moines the coach is paid $3500 and an assistant is paid $2000 for their work with the Academic Decathlon teams.
As you can see, we have a real need for support for academic competitions at Valley.