The Avery Coonley School Places First in National Vocabulary Competition

Downers Grove, IL – A team representing The Avery Coonley School recently earned Highest Honors in the 2020-2021 WordMasters Challenge™—a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 125,000 students annually. The third-grade team scored an impressive 186 points out of a possible 200 in the last of three meets this year, placing first in the nation. 
 
The third graders also placed first nationally in the overall competition with a cumulative score of 556 points out of a possible 600. In addition, the fourth-grade team from The Avery Coonley School finished the year in fifth place, and the sixth-grade team came in sixth. Both grade levels received a cumulative score of 558 points.

Fourth-grader Matilda Z. (cumulative score of 59 out of a possible 60 points) and third graders Jack V. (57 points), Olivia L. (56 points), Clark S. (56 points), and Luke H. (55 points) also earned individual Highest Honors in the overall competition (pictured below). The highest Honors are reserved for students who place among the top 10-15 students in their division.
 
Competing in the very difficult Gold Division of the WordMasters Challenge™, third graders Olivia L. and Jack V. and fourth-graders Hank A. and Matilda Z. each earned a perfect score of 20 in the recent meet. Nationally, only 8 third graders and 51 fourth graders achieved this result. Other students at The Avery Coonley School who achieved outstanding results in the last meet of the year include third-graders Arianna D. and Clark S. and fourth-grader Graham T.
 
The students were coached in preparation for the WordMasters Challenge™ by The Avery Coonley School Teachers.
 
The WordMasters Challenge™ is an exercise in critical thinking that 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 high school students, WordMasters Challenge™ materials have been specifically created for younger students in grades three through eight. 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 Challenge™ program is administered by a company based in Indianapolis, Indiana, dedicated to inspiring high achievement in American schools. Further information is available at the company’s website: http://www.wordmasterschallenge.com. 

Driven by the motivation to serve its students, The Avery Coonley School confidently opened its doors for in-person learning on August 27, 2020. It has continued to remain open safely, with no outbreaks or transmissions. The Avery Coonley School is a dynamic and diverse independent day school serving academically bright and gifted students from preschool – 8th grade in Downers Grove, IL. Find more information here: https://www.averycoonley.org/.