Going out on top: GCHS senior ends Academic Decathlon career with new records

GRUNDY CENTER – With graduation right around the corner, GCHS senior Noah Boquet can be pleased with his accomplishments as he ends a record-breaking four-year-long Academic Decathlon career.
 
His list of achievements is lengthy: late last month, he won the special honor of becoming the first ever GCHS student to medal at the National Academic Decathlon competition two years in a row. He is also the only Varsity academic decathlete at GCHS to score over 6,000 points in one competition, and he’s one of only five students in school history to earn State Decathlon medals four years in a row. On top of that, he’s tied for the most medals won at a single event (he won 8 out of 10 medals in one state competition) and he’s won more medals than any other competitor in the Varsity class in school history.
 
But what’s more impressive than his medals and scores is his perseverance and personal growth during his Academic Decathlon career.
 
Don Osterhaus, who has been the AcDec coach since 1986 and who coached Boquet during his four years on the team, says that he would call Boquet a true “success story.”
 
“As a freshman, [Noah] was pretty quiet and kept to himself,” Osterhaus said. “But he medaled at state as a freshman, and I think that gave him a boost. His next year as a sophomore he came back, and he was a little more talkative. But his junior year was truly a turning point for him.”
 
Osterhaus says Boquet, during his junior year, clicked with a group of senior decathletes at GCHS, including Tiana Saak, Eli Harberts and Dylan Hendricks.
 
“The team just worked so well together as a unit,” Osterhaus said. “Everyone held each other accountable, reminding each other of study sessions and things like that.”
 
“[Noah’s] senior year was another break through year for him,” Osterhaus continued. “I think he learned a lot from that group of seniors, and this year, he was very much a leader to the rest of the AcDec team.”
 
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