It took studying two hours after school four days a week for the past six months to do what no team before them has done.
For the first time in the Sweetwater Union High School District’s history, the Sweetwater Union High School academic decathlon team made it as a wildcard to the state competitions in Sacramento.
The 17-member Sweetwater team became the most decorated team in the high school’s history, scoring 43,019 points, a new school record, and were the top scoring team in four events. The team was recognized for having 45 medals as well as four of the top overall scores in the county.
For their achievement the Sweetwater decathlon team received an invitation as a Division III team to join 65 other elite decathlon teams at the California Academic State Competition.
“We’ve had amazing teams in the past, but this team has eclipsed everybody,” said Meg Garcia, academic decathlon coach and AP art history teacher.
Along the way to their success, the team has dealt with obstacles that were out of their control.
Sweetwater High School is one of the poorest schools in the district and, with limited resources, there wasn’t a way for the team to fund their trip to the state capitol.
Garcia said the district only pays for 10 of the 17 students to make the trip, so to fund the remaining six — one particpant is not going — Garcia set up a Gofundme account seeking to raise $3,000.
Less than a week from posting the Gofundme page, the team reached its goal; 72 donors pitched in to raise $ 3,010 to fund the remaining six players’ travel costs.
The giving didn’t end there.
When word first broke that the team made it to compete in the state competition, Garcia asked the Sweetwater staff for donations to outfit the team with new business attire, which is the required uniform for competition.
She said several members of the team didn’t have outfits and borrowed from each other.
Garcia estimated the costs of a blazer and dress shoes for the 10 starters on the team to be about $1,100. She said the staff of custodians, teachers, counselors and instructional aides raised $1,600.
The National City Kiwanis Club sponsored the team for a nice dinner on the night of the competition. The district gives the team a small stipend for food.
The National City Host Lions Club sponsored travel bags for the entire team.
Garcia said it’s nice to see the community rallying behind the team.
“Every time you hear about National City in the news there is always something bad, something negative,” she said.
“And here we are with kids who have earned their way with the elite schools from California to go and compete, not athletically, not with our bodies, but with our minds.”
While Garcia credits the kids’ hard work for making it to state, she also notes that it was a change in her coaching that drove them.
Garcia said last year’s academic decathlon team was one of her best teams, but they didn’t make it very far, prompting Garcia to assess how she ran her program.
“My team last year, before this one, was the best team I have ever coached … and we couldn’t make it to the next level,” she said. “My feeling was, when we didn’t make it to state last year, I said ‘if we can’t make it to state with these kids, my system is wrong.’”
She said she had to make a choice, either be content with being an average team or really take the team to the next level. She chose the latter.
Garcia, who also coaches the academic league team, said she’d let players on the academic decathlon compete in the academic league team. She said that stopped this year as players were getting burnt out. She made players chose to compete in one or the other.
Another change she incorporated was bringing in other adults to teach different subjects. Before she tried to coach all the subjects herself. This year she brought in her mother to serve as a history coach and music coach. A former decathlete served as a science coach. A math coach came in and an AP English teacher helped with literature.
“The (kids) really bought into the new system,” she said.
The team left for Sacramento on Wednesday and Garcia said the team is ready to make a name for itself.
“We’re the team that nobody expected to do anything because we’re Sweetwater, we’re from National City,” she said.
The team is expected to compete today, March 18, and tomorrow. An awards ceremony will be held Sunday.
