United States Academic Decathlon
![A letter from President Ronald Reagan to the competitors at the 1981 United States Academic Decathlon. Reagan had been Governor of California when Academic Decathlon was originally formed and had met with the winners of the 1970 Orange County Academic Decathlon.[14]](/uploads/202502/19/Ronald_Reagan_USAD_letter1744.png)
![Section from the Book of the Dead of Nany from 2004–05. Students were to learn facts such as the length of the scroll, whom Nany was a singer for, and whom her coffin was a sculpture of.[49]](/uploads/202502/19/LibroMuertosMetropolitan1744.jpg)
The Academic Decathlon (also called AcaDec, AcaDeca or AcDec) is the only annual high school academic competition organized by the non-profit United States Academic Decathlon Association (USAD). The competition consists of seven multiple choice tests, two performance events, and an essay. Academic Decathlon was created by Robert Peterson in 1968 for local schools in Orange County, California and expanded nationwide in 1981. That year, 17 states and the District of Columbia participated, a number that has grown to include most of the United States and some international schools. In 2015 Academic Decathlon held its first ever International competition in Shanghai, China. Once known as United States Academic Decathlon, on March 1, 2013, it began operating as the Academic Decathlon.