A team representing the School District of Fort Atkinson recently earned Highest Honors in the 2021-2022 WordMasters ChallengeTM, a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 125,000 students annually.
According to information released by challenge organizers, the fifth-grade team scored 189 points out of a possible 200 in the last of three meets this year, placing eighth in the nation.
Competing in the Gold Division of the WordMasters ChallengeTM, third-graders Meara Kelly and Briggs Luedtke, fifth-graders Aubrey Keller, Alexandria Luebke, and Emilio Quintana Gonzalez, and sixth-grader Emily Mallin (who took the Grade 8 Challenge) each earned a perfect score of 20 in the recent meet. Nationally, only nine third-graders, 47 fifth-graders, and 30 eighth-graders achieved this result. Other students at the School District of Fort Atkinson who achieved outstanding results in the last meet of the year include fifth-graders Kiefer Anderson, Ava Krahn, and Jocelyn Velazquez, and eighth-grader Samantha Mallin, according to the release.
The students were coached in preparation for the WordMasters ChallengeTM by Nancy Leisgang, School District of Fort Atkinson Gifted and Talented Program assistant.
About the challenge
According to the release, the WordMasters ChallengeTM 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 ChallengeTM materials have been specifically created for younger students in grades 3-8. They are particularly well suited for children who are motivated by the challenge of learning new words and enjoy the logical puzzles posed by analogies.
The WordMasters ChallengeTM program is administered by a company based in Indianapolis, Ind., which is dedicated to inspiring high achievement in American schools. Further information is available at the company’s website: http://www.wordmasterschallenge.com.
Fifth-grader Alexandria Luebke, at left, is one of several School District of Fort Atkinson students who competed recently in the Gold Division of the WordMasters ChallengeTM. Other students within the school district who competed, but are not pictured, include: third-graders Meara Kelly and Briggs Luedtke, and fifth-graders Aubrey Keller and Emilio Quintana Gonzalez. Sixth-grader Emily Mallin (who took the Grade 8 Challenge) each earned a perfect score of 20 in the recent meet, according to information supplied by the competition organizers.
Third-graders Briggs Luedtke, from left, and Meara Kelly are among students who recently competed in the Gold Division of the WordMasters ChallengeTM.
Fifth-graders Aubrey Keller and Emilio Quintana Gonzalez are among students who recently competed in the Gold Division of the WordMasters ChallengeTM.
Sixth-grader Emily Mallin (who took the Grade 8 Challenge) is among student who recently competed in the Gold Division of the WordMasters ChallengeTM.
Contributed photos.
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