Valerie King points to the crowd as she is recognized for winning first place nationally at an academic decathlon in Hawaii.Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School student Valerie King nabbed a national first-place award in speech at the 33rd annual U.S. Academic Decathlon national competition held recently in Honolulu.
With her gold medal win, King becomes only the second Georgia student to win a top award at the competition, school officials said.
This year, the high school's academic decathlon team took its fifth consecutive state championship. The team is coached by Lisa Beck and Ian Beck, who started it 10 years ago. Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe team members outscored teams from 22 Georgia high schools, according to a news release.
The nine-member teams were tested in seven content areas: economics, art, language and literature, mathematics, science, social science and music.
In addition, students earned points individually in three communication events: public speaking, a personal interview and a written essay. Each year the program features a different overall curriculum topic; this year's was World War I.