By Rod Ritchie
To say the Da Vinci Decathlon is hard is a bit like saying Einstein was quite bright or Bradman could bat a bit.
It’s not wrong, but really goes only a tiny way towards explaining what is going on.
The Da Vinci Decathlon is hard in the way that amputating a leg is inconvenient.
The Decathlon is almost certainly Australia’s premiere academic competition for school students.
Unlike almost all other competitions and events, the Da Vinci Decathlon specialises in … nothing.
Poetry, painting, engineering and philosophy, making up a play in 8 minutes or knowing a lot about Leonardo Da Vinci, the CEO of Canva or the street pattern of Paris are all in a day’s work at the Da Vinci Decathlon.
Trying HSC level mathematics problems are what the Year 9 competitors have to do, while their teammates are working out what the next Apple innovation should be.
Not only are the questions hard … very hard, but NHS students are competing against the very best and brightest from the most exclusive educational institutions in the North West and New England.
To get a place in a single event means you have had a great day.
(Many times, our teams have worked incredibly and returned without so much as a place in a single event).
All this is context for our announcing the incredible achievements of our Year 9 and 10 teams in the 2024 Da Vinci Decathlon.
Both teams gained numerous places and won two categories each.
And to top it off, the Year 10 side placed third overall in the region.
It is hard to over-state what an incredible achievement this is.
This has laid the platform for our Year 8 side, the members of which had never attended the Decathlon before.
Accompanied by Ms Li and David Pierce, these intrepid scholars had their initiation into the competition on Wednesday, April 3 at The Armidale School.
While not winning a place, the students had a great time and were a credit to Narrabri High School, and looked good doing it.
Now they know what they are in for, we look forward to seeing their achievements in the future.
So, a huge shout out to: Year 8 – Dominic Calsena, Lily Bartz, Riley Sparrow, Ben Taylor, Eli Clark, Annalise Hamblin, Georgia Herden.
Year 9 – Edward Bennett, Guhan Gunasekhar, Ava Smith, Beth Faris, Caleb Loder, Hunter Smith, Lucas Griffiths and Jad Harris.
Year 10 – Jobe O’Regan, Judah Hamblin, Olive Almagro, Charleigh Bennett, Alistair Dowdell, Caitlin Evans, Anna Stuart and (media personality) Maddison Sparrow.
