The Journal: News of the Churches of God

Front page: Wisconsinite scores big in academic contest

By John Warren

Ryan Ramlow, who attends the Berean Fellowship and the United Church of God in Waukesha, Wis., took first-place individual honors in the Academic Decathlon in Phoenix, Ariz.

Mr. Ramlow, a 17-year-old junior at Waukesha West High School, took five gold medals and two silver in competition April 11-12 with students from 55 schools in 38 states.

The decathlon is a 10-event scholastic competition that began in Orange County, Calif., in 1981 and is recognized as the most prestigious high-school academic-team competition in America.

Mr. Ramlow, son of Dennis and Terry Ramlow of Waukesha, returned home from Arizona as a much-decorated individual winner and part of a championship team of nine students from the same school.

Waukesha West also took first place as rookie school of the year and first place in the division for schools with fewer than 1,500 students.

The Wisconsin team was also the No. 1 school in the nation in overall decathlon competition.
The nine members on Mr. Ramlow's team had earned the right to travel to Phoenix by defeating 14 other schools in regional competition. Mr. Ramlow said he and his team prepared for the contests by studying two nights a week.

"We gave up our spring break," he said. "I took it seriously. I spent 14-hour days for the past two or three months in preparation."

"Ryan was awarded a total of five personal gold medals and two personal silver medals for varsity," Mr. Ryan's mother told THE JOURNAL. "He won medals in music, economics, math, language-literature and science. He scored gold for best in varsity for the nation. The stunning part is that Ryan also scored more points than any other student there, taking first overall in the nation. He scored a total of 8,678 personal points in the 10 events."

"I had the top score in the nation as well as individual medals, which resulted in a $500 scholarship for the best score for a team and a $1,000 award for best overall Varsity scorer," Ryan Ramlow said.

The Waukesha West team including Mr. Ramlow received its awards at a banquet April 13 in Phoenix for the 495 student contestants.

"We are beyond thrilled, excited, elated and drained," Mrs. Ramlow said. "I had prayed daily that God would bless and reward Ryan's hard work and attitude.

"Before the end of the evening, while rushing repeatedly down to the front to take pictures when his name was called like every other proud parent, I thought I was going to hyperventilate."

The Journal: News of the Churches of God is available from P.O. Box 1020, Big Sandy, Texas 75755, U.S.A., and https://www.thejournal.org. For more information write . To comment on this article or any other article or feature in The Journal or Connections, write . The preceding article or feature is from The Journal, April 15, 2002.