Souderton Area board honors state‑champion Academic Decathlon team; coach named state director

The Souderton Area School District Board of Directors on May 22 formally recognized the district’s Academic Decathlon team as the 2025 Pennsylvania state champions and approved a motion to honor the team.

The recognition came during the board’s monthly action meeting, when coaches Phil Sarami and Carolyn Scott and members of the nine‑student team were invited to the front of the room. Phil Sarami told the board the team overcame a seasonlong deficit to beat rival Seneca Valley by roughly 400 points at the state competition, and that the squad collected 12 national medals on the national stage.

The board’s acknowledgement followed a short presentation in which Sarami recounted the season. “We realized we were 6,000 points behind Seneca Valley at that point,” Sarami said, describing the gap during early competitions. He said the team followed a rigorous study schedule in the weeks before state competition and closed the deficit.

Sarami also announced a change in his role with the program: he will no longer coach the Souderton team because he has accepted the position of state director for Academic Decathlon; he said the state rule prevents a state director from coaching a team in the same state. Carolyn Scott, identified in the meeting as a math teacher and co‑coach, and coach Sally Cushmore (French teacher, not present) were named as part of the coaching staff.

Board members moved and seconded a motion to honor the team; the board voted “Aye” and approved the recognition. The meeting record does not show a roll call tally for that motion.

The board and coaches read the names of students on the 2025 roster during the recognition. Those named included Hassan Rahman, Giovanni Irvalino (individual state champion), Henry Dang, Maddie Zhang, Trina Wen (not present), Erin Eam, Nate Soucir, Jaden Wen, Gideon Pham, Caroline Stout and Ryan Marcus. Sarami highlighted four Souderton students who were named to the Pennsylvania All‑State team and noted the team set a school record with 12 national medals.

The board’s recognition placed the Academic Decathlon honor alongside other end‑of‑year acknowledgments at the meeting, including athletic and senior spotlights.

Souderton’s Academic Decathlon program has won multiple state championships in recent years; Sarami said this was the district’s fourth state title and described the rivalry with Seneca Valley as a recurring matchup across seasons.

The board motion to honor the team was approved during the meeting’s recognition agenda and recorded as “approved.”