Fourth grade wins national vocabulary challenge
The Class of 2031 has been named the national champion in their division of the 2022-2023 WordMasters Challenge, an annual national vocabulary competition involving nearly 125,000 students. The fourth-grade team scored a perfect 200 points in the last of the three competition meets this year for a final cumulative score of 588 out of a possible 600 points – placing them first in the nation!
“The Class of 2031 spurred each other on throughout this entire year to reach this collective goal,” said Lauren Fischer, one of the fourth-grade teachers who coached the boys along, with Shannon Nadalini and Lee-Ann Graham. “I’m so proud of the final outcome, but mostly I was so overjoyed to see these guys come together to encourage each other when they were challenged, to form study groups in preparation for the challenges and celebrate each other’s achievements rather than just their own individual scores.”
Competing in the difficult Gold Division, fourth graders Max Cao, Christian Collins, Montgomery Cullum, Daniel Geng, Thomas Hayes, Cole Huey, Vihaan Jain, Benny McCombie, Robert Staten, Andrew Tevis, Lawrence Tong and Caleb Zhang each earned a perfect score of 20 in the recent meet. Nationally, only 45 fourth graders achieved this result.
Benny McCombie also earned Individual highest honors in the overall competition with a cumulative score of 59 out of 60 points. With cumulative scores of 58 points, Thomas Hayes, Vihaan Jain, Christopher Kersey and Andrew Tevis all qualified for highest honors, which are reserved for students who are among the top 10-15 in their division.
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.
Watch the video below to see the moment the boys learned the final results.
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“The Class of 2031 spurred each other on throughout this entire year to reach this collective goal,” said Lauren Fischer, one of the fourth-grade teachers who coached the boys along, with Shannon Nadalini and Lee-Ann Graham. “I’m so proud of the final outcome, but mostly I was so overjoyed to see these guys come together to encourage each other when they were challenged, to form study groups in preparation for the challenges and celebrate each other’s achievements rather than just their own individual scores.”
Competing in the difficult Gold Division, fourth graders Max Cao, Christian Collins, Montgomery Cullum, Daniel Geng, Thomas Hayes, Cole Huey, Vihaan Jain, Benny McCombie, Robert Staten, Andrew Tevis, Lawrence Tong and Caleb Zhang each earned a perfect score of 20 in the recent meet. Nationally, only 45 fourth graders achieved this result.
Benny McCombie also earned Individual highest honors in the overall competition with a cumulative score of 59 out of 60 points. With cumulative scores of 58 points, Thomas Hayes, Vihaan Jain, Christopher Kersey and Andrew Tevis all qualified for highest honors, which are reserved for students who are among the top 10-15 in their division.
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.
Watch the video below to see the moment the boys learned the final results.
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St. Mark’s School of Texas
10600 Preston Road
Dallas, Texas 75230
214-346-8000
Dallas, Texas 75230
214-346-8000
About Us
St. Mark’s School of Texas is a private, nonsectarian college-preparatory boys’ day school for students in grades 1 through 12, located in Dallas, Texas. St. Mark’s aims to prepare young men to assume leadership and responsibility in a competitive and changing world.
St. Mark’s does not discriminate in the administration of its admission and education policies on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.
St. Mark’s does not discriminate in the administration of its admission and education policies on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.
