In the Twenty-ninth Annual Tennessee State Academic Decathlon competition, Haywood High School’s Purple Team placed second overall, and the White Team placed third overall. The teams brought home 44 medals, four plaques, two trophies, and two scholarships. As the second-place team, the Purple Team can participate in national online competition, and has the option of applying for a wild card slot in the on-site national competition to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii, in April. With 60,000 points possible for a team, the HHS teams’ scores were only 414.1 points apart.
Emma Baumheckel, Dannon Eubanks, and Symphony Timberlake were invited to participate in the prestigious Speech Showcase to deliver their award-winning speeches to the entire group of decathletes from across the state.

Winning individual medals were the following:

Symphony Timberlake – Bronze Medal in Speech

Camry Williams – Copper Medals in Math and Essay

Jaylon Douglas – Bronze Medals in Literature, Science, Math, and Social Science, Copper Medal in Economics

Nikki Cummins – Silver Medal in Math, Bronze Medal in Essay

Ryan Watson – Silver Medal in Essay, Copper Medal in Science

Milean Mans – Gold Medal in Interview, Bronze Medal in Literature, Copper Medal in Math

Ricarnicea Johnson – Bronze Medal in Interview

Jabria Nixon – Bronze Medal in Math, Copper Medals in Science, Economics, and Super Quiz

Chars Edwards – Silver Medal in Math, Copper Medal in Super Quiz

Kia Davis – Copper Medal in Super Quiz

Brent Ward – Silver Medal in Science, Bronze Medal in Social Science, Copper Medals in Literature and Super Quiz

Jason Elrod – Bronze Medal in Economics, Copper Medal in Super Quiz

Dontai Anderson – Bronze Medal in Economics, Copper Medal in Super Quiz

Dannon Eubanks – Silver Medal in Speech, Copper Medal in Super Quiz

Will Clinton – Silver Medal in Literature, Bronze Medal in Math, Copper Medal in Super Quiz

Emma Baumheckel – Gold Medals in Literature and Social Science, Copper Medals in Music, Art, Math, Economics, Speech, and Super Quiz

Emma Baumheckel was also recognized for being the highest-scoring student on the Purple Team, and Ryan Watson was the highest scoring member of the White Team. As the highest-scoring seniors on their teams, Brent Ward (Purple Team) and Nikki Cummins (White Team) were each awarded $300 Tennessee Academic Decathlon Achievement Scholarships.

On the White Team, Jaylon Douglas (Varsity Division) and Nikki Cummins (Scholastic Division) each received plaques for scoring fifth overall in their divisions.  In the Honors Division, Will Clintonreceived a plaque for scoring fifth overall, and Emma Baumheckel received a plaque for scoring fourth overall.

Coaches for the HHS Academic Decathlon teams are Glynn Bridgewater and John Thomas.