June 27, 2013
(Louisville, Ky.) Two students representing St. Nicholas Academy (5501 New Cut Road) recently received a perfect score in the last of three meets for this year’s WordMasters Challenge™—a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 150,000 students annually.
Competing in the difficult Blue Division of the WordMasters Challenge™, fourth grader Grace Medley and fifth grader Shannon Nguyen earned a perfect score of 20 in the recent meet. Nationally, only 55 fourth graders and 144 fifth graders achieved a perfect score. Other students at St. Nicholas Academy who achieved outstanding results in the final meet include third graders Hannah Reichel, fifth grader May Wilcox, and seventh graders Peyton Powell, Miranda Atkinson, and Olivia Atkinson – all scoring 19. The students were coached in preparation for the WordMasters Challenge™ by Pat Wheeler and Margee Kapp.
The WordMasters Challenge™ is an exercise in critical thinking that first encourages students to become familiar with a set of interesting new words (considerably harder than grade level), and then challenges them to use those words to complete analogies expressing various kinds of logical relationships. Working to solve the analogies helps students learn to think both analytically and metaphorically. Although most vocabulary enrichment and analogy-solving programs are designed for use by high school students, WordMasters Challenge™ materials have been specifically created for students in grades three through eight. They are particularly well suited for children who are motivated by the challenge of learning new words and who enjoy the logical puzzles posed by analogies.
The WordMasters Challenge™ program is administered by a company based in Indianapolis, Indiana, which is dedicated to inspiring high achievement in American schools. Further information is available at the company’s website: http://www.wordmasterschallenge.com.
For more information:
Kathy DeLozier, Principal, 502/368-8506
