中文
HOME
HOME / LATEST NEWS / Content

SHSID Dominates in the 2020 USAP!

May 1, 2020

A few days ago, in the 2020 USAP Competition, all four school teams (two seventh grade teams and two eighth grade teams) did a fantastic job of showcasing our school’s talent. While the eighth grade teams took the second and third place sports, the seventh grade teams stole the show by winning both first and second place in the competition. Within the individual competition, the results were even more astonishing: among the 18 seventh and eighth grade finalist from all parts of China who received medals, 9 of them hailed from SHSID!

Question: What is USAP?

The United States Academic Pentathlon is a subdivision of the United States Academic decathlon. It is a benchmark for some of the greatest schools around the globe. It is based around a new topic every year and carefully designs its content for each subject, placing new, diverse ways and standards into testing a “pentathlete”.

It might seem impossible now, but if you knew how much effort the pentathletes had put into their studies, SHSID’s domination wouldn’t seem so surprising. For every USAP class, pentathletes took in a prepared lunch and listened to teachers explain the course materials for the competition. Also, on weekends, students would sacrifice their free time to hold online meetings, pushing their abilities even in their spare time.

Every pentathlete had to read the 75+54+126+80+40 pages of text two to three times. Whilst reading in English isn’t a problem for our studious pentathletes, it is still hard to imagine how they juggled these tasks, finished their regular homework, and managed to fit in a healthy sleep schedule.

What made matters even more difficult was that the USAP was held online for the first time. Many students encountered problems along the way, and one of them even lost internet connection during the math test, doubling the already heavy pressure.

However, pentathletes are pentathletes, and they didn’t let all of this beat them down or sack their confidence. During every review session, there would be a few jokes and some light chat. Every time a pentathlete decided to study through night, they would always make the same solemn promise to themselves not to do so again—only to break it again later on. Whenever their eyelids refused to open, or they were starting to give up, they thought about their pride in their school. After finishing hundreds of pages of text written in obscure languages (especially the Fine Arts textbook!), or memorizing a myriad of odd and sophisticated information from the textbooks, every pentathlete made it through the other side of the semester. Surprisingly, everyone even survived!

April 18, 2020 was a day of utmost importance. Pentathletes entered the online examination room. A small room was revealed, only one-squared meters wide. The pentathletes opened their computers nervously and waited for their 6 months of hard work and dedication to be tested. At 7:00 pm the next day, even though students had to stay home to watch the awarding ceremony, the host announced one prize for SHSID after another. Everywhere, from WeChat to the pentathlete’s homes, students were met with the comments of “SHSID DOMINATION!! (WITH A LOT OF EXCLAMATION MARKS OMITTED)”. All of these prizes showcased the pentathletes’ outstanding academic abilities, and, above all, their pride in the school.

After reading this, think to yourself, are you scared by the level of dedication that is required to be a pentathlete? Or are you excited by the challenge? USAP 2021 awaits you!

(Written by 7(11) Rich Zhou, SHSID Stem Group Pictures by Teachers and Students)