Academic Quadrathlon Description

The Academic Quadrathlon is a local and a regional event involving undergraduate student teams from within a school or university or between students from various schools or universities. The emphasis of an Academic Quadrathlon is on participation by students rather than on competition. At the local level, teams must be organized by the students and consist of four individuals or fewer. Any student from any major may participate at the local level. To be an eligible member on a regional team one must not have previously represented their school at the regional level. They must be undergraduates in a nonprofessional degree program at the time of their local competition. The regional team should be the winning team at the local competition. If a substitution is need, the substitution must have competed at the local level that year.

Teams participate in four events: Laboratory Practicum, Written Exam, Oral Presentation, and Quiz Bowl. In the Laboratory Practicum, the team demonstrates its ability to perform physical skills. Work at each station lasts 15 to 20 minutes and involves the entire team. The work at each station usually involves a species such as beef or swine or a disciplinary area such as nutrition or meats. The Written Exam has a time limit. The questions may involve any area related to animal production and products. Each team writes one exam, dividing the questions as they wish. In the Oral Presentation, the students are given a topic to discuss dealing with animal agriculture. This is an exercise in cooperative problem solving. In the Quiz Bowl questions may be on any topic that relates to animal agriculture and that are answerable in a short period of time. Quiz games will be organized as double elimination tournament.

Questions regarding the WSASAS AQ program can be directed to Matt Kennedy (kennedy@oregonstate.edu), Oregon State University.