The Assumption High School decathlon team took the lava lamp back from Pacelli High School after the team placed third in their division at a state competition, scoring more points than Pacelli. Tom Loucks/Daily Tribune
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Posted April 19, 2008
Assumption wins Lamp of Knowledge
By Adam Wise
Daily Tribune Staff
WISCONSIN RAPIDS - It might not quite have the prestige of the Super Bowl Lombardi Trophy, but the Lamp of Knowledge is important to one local school.
A lava lamp has acted as a traveling trophy between the Assumption and Pacelli high school academic decathlon teams.
For the five years of its existence, the lamp has traded sides when one of the teams defeated the other in the same competition. The trophy was ushered into the rivalry by the Rev. Derek Sakowski, a 1994 AHS graduate who currently leads the decathlon team at Pacelli in Stevens Point. Paul Klinkhammer, the current coach of Assumption's team, held the same position during Sakowski's time at the Wisconsin Rapids private school.
"(Klinkhammer) and I are really not hippies, so we thought the lava lamp was funny," Sakowski said.
But the lamp is not Pacelli's to keep for this summer because the AHS team placed third at a state competition last month, scoring more points than Pacelli, and thus winning the coveted room illuminator until next year.
This was the first time AHS defeated Pacelli at both the regional and state competitions since Pacelli started its team several years ago.
A typical competition consists of speech, a written test and a super quiz, which requires teams to focus on one particular subject. This year, it was the Civil War.
The rivalry is in danger of losing its luster next school year when Sakowski leaves the school to study for a doctorate in Rome, but the former Assumption grad is confident the lamp will provide the edge to the competitors.
"It's one of the main motivators for our students," Sakowski said.
The Assumption High School decathlon team took the lava lamp back from Pacelli High School after the team placed third in their division at a state competition, scoring more points than Pacelli. Tom Loucks/Daily Tribune