Sitting on the edge of their seats, tensions started to rise as the announcer counted down from the top ten teams. After reaching the top three schools, Jackie Foley almost accepted defeat as the schools that had placed in the top three had beaten them previously in regionals.

“And the second place winner of the Texas Academic Decathlon is… Richardson High School!” the announcer exclaimed. Foley and her whole team sprang up from their seats and tumbled onto the stage, still dazed by the fact that they had placed second in the whole state.

“When we were going up to get that award, it was just a very great feeling of community and family that I’ve never really experienced in a school setting before,” Foley said.

In the first time in RHS Academic Decathlon’s history, the team placed the highest they have ever had in state.

“We are incredibly proud of the hard work that this team put in and very excited to see what this team will do because we always graduate seniors and welcome new members into the program,” Michel Hill. “Ultimately having so many people come through our program, having so many people come through our program this year means we have a lot of experience coming back next year.”

Starting from the beginning of the school year, the academic decathlon team put in the hours from staying after school to pulling all-nighters in order to get the result they wanted.

“I feel like I put in so much work in the first semester this year,” Celia Schaefers said. “So I was really happy when it paid off with being able to compete with the final team and winning all the way to state.”

Due to the demanding hours required for the team to succeed, Foley said that she would get stressed when pulling all-nighters.

“I would feel kind of crappy when I didn’t meet my daily goals of getting like a short amount of work done,” Foley said. “I realized that I should’ve prioritized my health because no matter what happens, no matter what I score, I am still doing it and making the most out of it.”

While they have realized the amount of commitment required to be successful in their team, some of them were considering quitting at one point.

“Last year I was competing in a HOSA competition a weekend prior to an AcDec competition which required not only me but my partner to put in a lot of work to practice in a hospital,” Ashroff-Khan said. “So preparing and studying for the state competition was very hard during that time but I kept thinking, this is a lot and I don’t know if I can do this.”

Despite all the work the sacrifices each team members made for AcDec, Schaefers said that their hard work as paid off when they placed second.

“I feel so proud of not only my team but myself,” Schaefers said. ”I feel like I have improved and that it has really prepared me for college when I graduate next year.”

Being together so often, Schaefers said that they have grown closer together as a team.

“All the time we spent in our practice sessions, not practicing, all the crazy discussions that we had and the controversial issues that have come up during our time together are some of the memories I’ll take with me when I leave,” Ashroff-Khan.

While many students in AcDec are returning to AcDec, some of them are graduating seniors that won’t be in AcDec next year.

“I am glad that I left my mark in the AcDec history after doing this for two years and I’ve already gotten used to it,” Ashroff-Khan said. “Knowing that next year I’m not going to be back in Hill’s classroom studying sucks but I have gotten around to accepting it.”