Rookie Of The Year

Test time comes often for a group of Lakeview Fort Oglethorpe High school students.

They are members of the school's Decathlon team, and teacher Ian Beck founded the group.

"The first couple of years they had no idea what we did. They thought we were the people with the buzzers. 'So, you're the team with the buzzers?' Nooo."

You might say the students are kids who take tests for fun.

The big difference is, they spend hours and hours every day preparing for them.

"They have to take tests in art, language and literature," points out Teacher Lisa Beck. "Economics, social studies, math, music and they have to give a speech, and do an interview, and write an essay."

The countless hours, and hard work paid off.

The decathlon team competed with 80 schools in Georgia and came in first in the state.

The students found themselves in Memphis at the end of April thanks to their team effort, and hard work.

That's where the top 36 teams in the country competed in the U.S. Academic Decathlon National Finals.

It marked Lakeview Fort Oglethorpe's first time ever at nationals.

The team knew their stuff, earning the title of "Rookie of the Year" for becoming the highest scoring new team.

Teacher Ian Beck is proud of the group.

"Kids that love to learn, because every year there's a new topic they know nothing about, and they have to learn about that topic."

As far as future competitions?

"We plan on being back next year," adds 11th Grader Steven Harris.