Pleasant Valley High School has claimed the 2025 Butte County Academic Decathlon championship, ending Las Plumas High School’s five-year winning streak.

Coached by government teachers Mike Brooks and Beth Burton, the Pleasant Valley team scored 33,489 points to take the county title at the competition, hosted by the Butte County Office of Education (BCOE) on Saturday, Feb. 1.

Pleasant Valley will now represent Butte County at the California State Academic Decathlon, set for March 21-23 in Santa Clara.

Mary Ellen Garrahy, Butte County Academic Decathlon coordinator, praised the students’ efforts and the excitement of this year’s competition.

“All of the students who participated this year brought their A game,” Garrahy said. “Las Plumas had such a long winning streak going. This year, Pleasant Valley High School came in really strong and looked like a power team. It was exciting to watch their enthusiasm when it was announced they were advancing to state.”

Las Plumas High School finished in second place, while Paradise High School took third.

A total of 53 students from five Butte County high schools—Pleasant Valley, Las Plumas, Paradise, Biggs and Oroville—competed in this year’s decathlon, which centered on the theme “Our Changing Climate.”

Participants studied the same curriculum throughout the year and competed against students in their respective grade point average categories. Medals were awarded for each of the 10 events, which included economics, mathematics, literature, social science, science, art, music, essay, interview and speech.

Pleasant Valley’s championship team

The winning Pleasant Valley team members were:

• Alexis Oliver
• Abigail Harrell
• Jackson Harrison
• Sebastian Olives
• Kayla Tyson
• Kyrah Brunett
• Hyunhu Na
• Amun Reddy
• Thomas Ma
• Bret Daugherty

Top-scoring students by event

• Economics: Gold—Alexis Oliver (Biggs), Sebastian Olives (PVHS), Amun Reddy (PVHS)
• Literature: Thomas Ma (PVHS), Sebastian Olives (PVHS), Hyunhu Na (PVHS)
• Essay: Alexis Oliver (Biggs), Kyrah Brunett (PVHS), Hyunhu Na (PVHS)
• Speech: Abigail Harrell (PVHS), Christina Rowe (LPHS), Maizy Miller (LPHS)
• Interview: Zoey Ramirez (LPHS), Makynna Short (LPHS), Maizy Miller (LPHS)
• Social Science: Sammy Fernandes (LPHS), Ayvin Hamrell (LPHS), Hyunhu Na (PVHS)
• Science: Sammy Fernandes (LPHS), Kyrah Brunett (PVHS), Sullivan Bergstrand (LPHS)
• Art: Jenavive Coffelt (Oroville), Ayvin Hamrell (LPHS), Amun Reddy (PVHS)
• Music: Clover Connor (Paradise), Kyrah Brunett (PVHS), Kayla Tyson (PVHS), Hyunhu Na (PVHS)
• Mathematics: Sammy Fernandes (LPHS), Ty Voigt (Paradise), Amun Reddy (PVHS)

Overall top-scoring students

• Honors Division: Amun Reddy (PVHS)
• Scholastic Division: Sebastian Olives (PVHS)
• Varsity Division: Sammy Fernandes (LPHS)
• Alternate: Bret Daugherty (LPHS) and Josiah Peters (Paradise)

Community support and judging

Community volunteers played a key role in judging the essay, interview and speech portions of the decathlon. Judges included educators, business professionals and local leaders, such as Janet Goodson, Jim Matray, Frank Quinn, Susan Neben and Dave Tamori.

Las Plumas coach Christian Bruce emphasized the team-building aspect of the competition.

“What I love most about Academic Decathlon is that it brings a group of students together with diverse backgrounds, interests and strengths to forge a strong team that builds friendships outside of the competition,” Bruce said. “All of the returning kids knew how close they were to winning the county last year, and that was the number one motivator to study hard and prepare for this year’s competition.”

Alastair Roughton, a Butte College workforce development liaison and longtime Super Quiz master, highlighted the event’s impact on students and the community.

“The Super Quiz is always fun since it’s competitive but not scored,” Roughton said. “You can see both team camaraderie and fun exchanges between schools at the end of the day. Every contestant should be proud they made the choice to be there and committed to their teams and themselves.”

He also encouraged more schools—and potentially middle school students—to get involved in future competitions.

“The community really appreciates what the County Office of Education has done for the last decade or more,” Roughton said.

For more information about the Butte County Academic Decathlon or to learn how to participate, contact Mary Ellen Garrahy at mgarrahy@bcoe.org.