Rocky Point Students Compete in WordMasters Challenge

Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School 4th and 5th grade GATES students have been learning select vocabulary words backwards, forwards, in and out as part of their participation in the WordMasters Challenge, a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 150,000 students annually.

Throughout the year, the Rocky Point students train with their teacher Donna Trapani for the competition’s three meets.

"The contests help students develop advanced language skills," Trapani said. "Students are required to understand not only the meaning of the new vocabulary words, but also the various uses of each word as well as the parts of speech.

"Through our preparations, the students build critical-thinking skills and challenge their minds so that during the contests, they can do more than just define the words – they can dissect them and apply their meaning to the problem at hand.”

Competing in the Blue Division of the WordMasters Challenge, JAE fourth-grader Ashlynne Xavier earned a perfect score during the contest’s first meet. Nationally, only 31 4th graders achieved a perfect score. During that meet, JAE students Trevor Hall, Molly Infranco and Molly Lambert were also commended for achieving outstanding results.

The students will compete in two more meets this year; the second will focus on the 25 words from the first meet as well as 25 new words and the third will be a cumulative challenge on the 50 previous words and 25 new items.