South Decatur High School’s six-member fine arts academic team traveled to the state competition at Purdue University last weekend and came away with an excellent third place finish out of 298 schools.

The team includes members Ellie Armand, Brent Johnson, Felicia McNealy, Elizabeth Ralston, Megan Ritchie and Cassie Weaver.

The fine arts team had concentrated its study on the American Civil War, with a focus on the visual arts and music, paintings, artists and instruments of the time period.

The students had made it their objective early in the school year to be able to compete at the state level. Not only did they meet that goal, they also performed above and beyond, according to teacher and coach Nicole Skirvin.

While South Decatur’s fine arts academic team was the only team from the school to make it to state, the contest at Purdue also saw schools from all over Indiana competing in the categories of math, science, social studies and English.

While South’s team stayed confident and optimistic on the outside, they masked what was going on inside.

“We were very nervous,” team member Armand explained. “Nervous might be an understatement.”

At the competition, the students were required to answer 25 multiple choice questions. With a strict 30-second time limit, the team had to collaboratively decide which answer was the correct one, and the team captain made the final mark. Some of the questions offered audio excerpts and art slides that the students had to identify, but most were straight question and answer.

With all of the schools competing at one time on a single stage, South’s team jumped out to an early lead. After 19 questions, South was in first place.

“We were really excited halfway through,” Armand stated. “I think that’s why we got so nervous. That’s when we got knocked down.”

With the scores projected directly above them, the last 6 out of the 25 questions proved challenging for the local team, and they stumbled. However, out of 298 schools, the students remained proud of their third place finish.

Garnering the bronze, the team was awarded a plaque and each of the students were given a medal.

“We said that they gave us the wrong shade of gold and misspelled first,” team member Weaver joked.

With the state competition behind them, and the plaque on display in the school’s academic cabinet, the team is finished for the year. But Weaver and Armand do plan to come back for the next year’s fine arts academic team.

“We’ll come back with the right shade of gold next year,” Weaver said.