MIDDLE SCHOOL MASTERS

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May 17, 2021

For information on enrollment and registration at Notre Dame, please visit the admissions section of our website here.

Eighth-grade team finishes ninth in the U.S. in annual vocabulary competition; two students earn rare perfect scores.

A team representing Notre Dame Middle School recently earned highest honors in the 2020-2021 WordMasters Challenge, a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 125,000 students annually. Notre Dame's eighth grade-team scored an impressive 166 points out of a possible 200 in the last of three meets this year, placing ninth in the nation. 

The eighth graders also placed sixth nationally in the overall competition for the year with a cumulative score of 506 points out of a possible 600.

In addition, competing in the difficult blue division of the Challenge, sixth-grader Charlie Nadeau and eighth-grader Paolo Fregoli each earned a perfect score of 20 in the recent meet. Nationally, only 48 sixth graders and eight eighth graders achieved this result. 

The students were coached in preparation for the WordMasters Challenge by middle school teachers Tina McLaughlin and Kelly Simon, who had high praise for their perfect-scoring students.

"Paolo has been steadily improving since seventh-grade on each WordMasters test," said Simon, who teaches seventh-grade reading and eighth-grade language and literature. "By eighth grade, the students have a great self awareness of their abilities and study methods that work for them. I’m so happy for Paolo. He has worked hard all semester for this score."

McLaughlin, who coached Nadeau, said her student also is a dedicated and driven student.

"He takes time with his assignments and always puts forth his best effort," she said. "He was determined to score a 20 on the WordMasters Challenge this year and I was very proud of his accomplishment. Charlie's hard work definitely paid off!" 

More on WordMasters:
The WordMasters Challenge, a program administered by a company based in Indianapolis, Indiana, 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 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.

Further information is available at the company’s website at wordmasterschallenge.com.

For information on enrollment and registration at Notre Dame, please visit the admissions section of our website here.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org

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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the National Association of Independent Schools. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school’s home page at www.ndpma.org.