Even though it ws considered a "rebuilding" year for Harmony Magnet Academy it was still able to continue its Academic Decathlon dynasty.
Harmony won its fourth straight Tulare County Academic Decathlon title this year to advance to the State Academic Decathlon Championships that concluded on Saturday in Santa Clara. Harmony went on to win four medals at the state event.
Harmony competed in Division 4. For Harmony junior Olivia Braghetta-Peterson placed second in essay in the Scholastic division, Claire Holly placed third in social science in the scholastic division and Kris Kashyap won two medals in the honors division, taking second in science and third in interview. Kashyap also became a member of the 7,000 point club as he scored 7,107.1 points in the event.
Students with a 3.8 GPA or higher competed in the honors division and students with a 3.2 to 3.799 GPA competed in scholastic.
Kimberly Marsh has coached the team for the past four years. In that four years only two other Harmony sudents have scored more than 7,000 points and both were seniors. Kashyap is a junior.
"It was a rebuilding year for us, and this team worked incredibly hard all year long," Marsh said. "Knowing the extra effort required to defend their county title for a fourth consecutive year — and to once again represent PUSD (Porterville Unified School District and Tulare County at the California State competition — the team committed to working together not only during zero period, but also on many Saturdays. "I am very proud of their efforts to build deep knowledge around this year’s theme."
The theme of this year's academic decathlon was The Roaring 20s.
At last year's State Academic Championships Harmony had six seniors who had already competed at state at least once. That team placed fifth out of 16 other schools in their division. Only co-captains Kashyap and Holly returned from last year's team.
"We are especially proud of the decathletes who earned individual medals," Marsh said. "The continued success of our team is largely due to the collaborative work students do to prepare. This year, more students than ever stepped into leadership roles, teaching portions of the curriculum to their teammates."
Senior Rogelio Nunez and Holly led Social Science, while Kashyap taught Science and Math. Senior Oliver Rodriguez assisted Music preparation, and junior Catherine Guillen contributed to Art. Several students worked together to lead Economics units.
Additionally, junior Aaron Armenta, one of the individual competitors, continued to study with the team during zero period and on Saturdays between the county and state competitions, helping his teammates review right up to the start of the events.
"This culture of teamwork is central to both our team’s success and each student’s individual achievement," Marsh said.
"I would like to thank Principal Jeff Brown for his continued support of Academic Decathlon at Harmony, as well as our parents for everything they do to support their students and our program.
"Coaching this team has been one of the highlights of my career. These students challenge themselves daily — developing knowledge, discipline, and skills in writing, public speaking, teamwork, and leadership that will serve them well beyond high school. Academic Decathlon is truly about much more than medals."
Marsh also thanked the Harmony Education Foundation, Tulare County Office of Education, Setton Farms, River Island Country Club "and several dedicated parents who contributed financially and served as chaperones," referring to the trip to Santa Clara. "We are deeply grateful for their support."
Those who competed in the State Academic Decathlon were Alejandra Rivas, Kris Kashyap, Xitlaly Prado, Claire Holly, Olivia Braghetta-Peterson, Vincent Martinez, Daniel Jacuinde, Oliver Rodriguez, and Rogelio Nunez.