Jefferson High academic decathletes head to nationals again

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Jefferson High School academic decathlon team is heading to a national competition once again after taking top honors in the state for 23 consecutive years.

“It’s a legacy,” said Kevin Darrow, coach of the Jefferson High academic decathlon team. “Twenty-three years isn’t done by accident. It’s a formula. It’s not what we learn, it’s how we learn.”

The J-Hawks won the National Academic Decathlon for the first time in the school’s history in 2022. The students are now studying for the national tournament April 27-29 in Frisco, Texas. In 2025, the National Academic Decathlon will be held in Des Moines.

Student members on the 2023 team are Ethan Caton, Levi Thompson, Danika Burkett, Killian Schlotfelt, Andrew Garms, Owen Steinke, Sydney Proctor, Wrigley Brody, Lydia Cassell and Davonte Townsend.

Burkett, a senior, was named the highest-scoring decathlete at the state competition. “She’s a really focused team leader and showing these kids how to succeed,” Darrow said.

In academic decathlons — which started in California in 1968 and in Iowa in 1986 — students are tested in 10 areas: art, economics, essay, interviewing, language and literature, mathematics, social science, science, speech and super quiz.

Cedar Rapids Jefferson won its first Iowa Academic Decathlon title in 1997 after being the runner-up for three years.

There is a “folklore” that Jefferson High kids “study all the time,” Darrow said. But these students also are involved in many other activities including athletics, band and choir and school plays.

Last month, however, the students did spend 21 hours straight studying as a fundraiser to help them pay to go to nationals.

“As a 50-year-old man, that wasn’t easy,” Darrow said with a laugh. “I haven’t stayed up all night in 20-some years.”

Darrow said he suggested a fundraiser to the team a few years ago. The students considered raising money by selling cookies or washing cars, but Darrow thought they could “kill two birds with one stone” by having people pay them to study.

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Darrow has coached decathlon for 17 years, with 10 of those years at Jefferson. He was a member of the 1992 Jefferson High academic decathlon team.

During the school year, the team meets for one to three study sessions a week, each lasting several hours. Darrow estimates the time spent studying each year at between 600 and 800 hours.

The study guide for academic decathlon is about 1,000 pages. The Jefferson High team has read through the study guide out loud together almost five times, Darrow said.

While some people think of studying as “punishment,” the Jefferson High decathlon team sees it as a challenge, Darrow said.

“I play the comic foil,” Darrow said. “The students are usually more focused than I am. I’m the one who interrupts and says something funny, something to spur their ability to remember.”

Every fall, Darrow said he receives messages from former Jefferson High decathletes. They send him photos of notes they’ve taken in their college classes and study guides they’ve created themselves.

“Other students have no idea how to study,” Darrow said. “When you walk in to chemistry class in college, and there’s 500 kids, you’ve got to know how to learn on your own.”

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