Biographies

See also: Decathletes' Directory

Dr. Robert Peterson

Former Orange County, California Superintendent of Schools who founded the United States Academic Decathlon in 1968.

Kris Sankaran

Academic Decathlete from Moorpark High School in California who used to hold the record for most points accumulated by an Academic Decathlete during a single meet (9,461.4 points). Sankaran's 7-event objective score of 6,691.4 points at the 2009 California State competition was also the highest known objective score achieved by a single decathlete. His performance remains extraordinarily impressive seeing as only three other students nationwide scored above 8,850 points and none within 300 points of him, a significantly higher margin than any other time an individual has broken 9,400.

Coaches

Curt Canaday

Coach of Mountain View Mesa High School in Arizona. Alongside co-coach Joan Snyder, Canaday led his team to nationals eight times, including three second place finishes in 2004, 2005, and 2010.

Chris Yetman (Evil Dr. Calculus, or EDC)

Coach of the Arizona Canyon Del Oro Academic Decathlon team, which has earned a spot at Nationsls in 2006, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2015. Yetman is also a regular member of DemiDec Talk.

Phil Cerami

First Score Comptroller for ADSIC (2004-October 2006) and founder of AcaDec Scores, currently coaching the Academic Decathlon team at Souderton Area High School in Souderton, Pennsylvania.

Acalon

Dan Spetner

Well-known as a "hyper, fanatic, excitable guy" knowing "more about Acadec than anybody", Acalon Dan, as he is known, is the founder of Acalon, a former third-party study materials company. Unfortunately, Acalon had to majorly scale back in 2012 after he was diagnosed with cancer.

Decademy

Stephen Bergauer

Co-founder of Decademy and a former three-year Decathlete from Hamilton High School in Chandler, Arizona. He was the overall individual champion at the 2012 Arizona State competition, recording a top score of 9,051.9 points. He went on to attend Arizona State University, majoring in Mathematics, Finance, and Economics.

Nick Synodis

Co-founder of Decademy and a former Decathlete from Mountain View High School in Mesa, Arizona, graduating in 2011. As team captain, Nick wrote thousands of questions as well as outlines and workbooks, eventually leading to the creation of Decademy with co-founder Stephen Bergauer. He went on to attend Arizona State University as a Mathematics major, continuing as a grad student to study Industrial Engineering with an emphasis on quality and reliability engineering.

DemiDec

Daniel Berdichevsky

President/CEO and founder of DemiDec and promient member of the 1994 Taft Academic Decathlon team that won the 1994 National Title. Berdichevsky's individual high score of 9,297 points stood as the all time record for fourteen years before being broken by Isabel Salovaara of Whitney Young.

Dean Schaffer

Prominent Honors Decathlete on the 2006 California Taft Academic Decathlon team that won the 2006 National Title. After writing the 2005-2006 Music Power Guide, Schaffer worked as DemiDec's Power Guide Editor in the 2006-2007, 2007-2008, and 2008-2009 seasons.

Sophy Lee

Prominent Honors Decathlete on the 2008 Texas Pearland Academic Decathlon team that became the first Texas team to break the 50,000 point barrier in eight years. Sophy earned the State of Texas' all time high score with 9,303.8 points, which also ranked her as the third highest scoring decathlete in history. Lee worked as DemiDec's Power Guide Editor in the 2009-2010, 2010-2011, and 2011-2012 seasons.

Isabel Salovaara

was an Honors competitor for Whitney Young Magnet School in Illinois who became the first person to break the 9,300 point barrier, shattering Dan Berdichevsky's 14-year old record of 9,297 points.

Alli Blonski

was a Honors competitor for Waukesha West in Wisconsin who achieved the highest score at the 2008 nationals and all time high score in Academic Decathlon with 9,321 points. Her record, however, was broken by Kris Sankaran of Moorpark less than a year later. Blonski wrote the 2009-2010 Science Independent Research Power Guide and the 2010-2011 Super Quiz Power Guide for DemiDec.

David Haughney

Notable Honors Decathlete on the 2008 Wisconsin Waukesha West Academic Decathlon team. Was the 4th highest scoring decathlete of all time (9,300.8 points). Haughney wrote the 2009-2010 Super Quiz Power Guide for DemiDec.

Monica Schettler

Prominent Varsity Decathlete on the 2006 California Taft Academic Decathlon team that won the 2006 National Title; was a member of DemiDec known for "Monica's notes."

Zac Ellington

Prominent Decathlete of the 2006 Taft Academic Decathlon team that won the 2006 National title.

Major Contributors to ADSIC

Robb Dooling

A scholastic from the 2009 Harry A. Burke High School team from Nebraska that finished third at nationals. He helped run ADSIC and, along with Hartman, helped revolutionize the gathering of scores on ADSIC. He also wrote the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 Art Power Guides for DemiDec.

David Gilman

Sysadmin of AcaDec Scores (January 2007-Present), Nebraska Creighton Preparatory School Varsity 2005-2007. Fun times. I also provide the hosting for AcaDec Scores. Come and check out my site, Gil's Lotd.

Andrew Hartman

A large contributor to the organizing of scores on ADSIC, and helped fuel the outbreak of scores starting in 2008. Competed for Pearland HS in 2007 and the state-winning year in 2008, when he achieved one of the highest varsity scores in the Texas Academic Decathlon. He is now an administrator on DemiDec Talk, the unofficial webcaster for DemiDecTalk, and a confidant of DemiDec.

Kort Everett Jackson

Second Score Comptroller of AcaDec Scores (October 2006-Present), Founder of ADSIC (March 15,2007), Scholastic on the Texas Oliver Wendell Holmes Academic Decathlon team from 2004-2006. Has been a member of DemiDec since June 2004.

Kevin Teeling (emeritus)

A former (very former) decathlete from Mountain View Mesa High School. Also a founding admin of DemiDecTalk and former DemiDec contributor. Provided much of the historical background for this site. Likes the word "emeritus".

School pages