AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian students turn national academic title into a community victory
The Canoga Park team’s Academic Decathlon victory gives the Armenian school a new milestone and students a championship moment beyond the classroom.
CANOGA PARK, Calif. — A team of students from AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian School has won the 2025-26 United States Academic Decathlon Small Schools Virtual National Competition, giving the Armenian school its first national championship in the program and turning months of quiet study into a public celebration.
The Canoga Park school said its students competed in eight events in the small school category against teams from Arizona, Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Alaska, Idaho and Wisconsin. The United States Academic Decathlon listed the 2026 national results and separate online competition categories for large, medium and small schools.
For the students, the win reaches beyond medals and test scores.
“I think I can say that we all feel proud as a team to be able to represent the Armenian community at a national level,” senior Sevag Markarian said.
Markarian said he and teammate Sevag Vakian joined Academic Decathlon as freshmen. Four years later, they leave with a national title. He said the team had already felt proud last year when it advanced to state competition. This year, the students went further.
The competition tests students across a wide range of academic subjects. The United States Academic Decathlon says the program covers 10 categories: art, economics, essay, interview, language and literature, mathematics, music, science, social science and speech. Students take multiple choice tests, write essays, deliver speeches and sit for interviews.
Vakian described the contest as a mix of school subjects, public speaking and disciplined study.
“Academic Decathlon is 10 subjects, including speech, interview, math, science, social science, art, music, basically the whole range of subjects you might learn in school and you might not,” Vakian said.
He said some study guides run about 100 pages and the questions can go deep into details most students would never encounter in a regular class.
At nationals, he said, the pressure shifts heavily to multiple choice testing.
“Every sentence matters,” Vakian said. “You might have to know what the price of soybeans were in 1928. Very random information. You kind of just have to know it.”
That kind of preparation shaped the team’s season.
Markarian said students spent part of winter break at school, studying in their coach’s room and preparing for the competition. He said the team covered concepts that younger students may not have studied yet in their regular courses, including economics topics usually taught to seniors.
“This year is the most amount of work we’ve ever put into it, and I think it really paid off,” Markarian said.
The school said several students earned individual medals. Andrew Gharibian won medals in essay, art, economics, science, social science and music. Sevag Markarian won silver in economics. Sevag Vakian won silver medals in essay, art and math and bronze in economics. John Mazedzhyan, Bedros Oruncakciel, Mateos Celik and Mina Kajoukian also earned medals. The school said Isabella Shagmirian and Ani Tokadzhyan made significant score contributions.
The school also said Gharibian, Vakian and Mazedzhyan placed first, second and third among all competitors.
The students’ reaction showed how much the title meant. The trophy became more than hardware. It marked a rare academic victory that students could celebrate the way other schools celebrate championships in sports.
For seniors, the win also arrives at a turning point.
Markarian said Academic Decathlon teaches students how to pace themselves, study difficult subjects and teach themselves new ideas. He said those skills will follow them into college and future jobs.
The speech and interview sections also changed the way students carry themselves.
“That’s public speaking skills that we may not have learned in a traditional classroom setting that Academic Decathlon made possible,” Markarian said.
For AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian School, the national title gives the campus a new academic milestone. For the students, it gives them something simpler and harder to measure.
They studied. They stayed with it. They won.