NOTRE DAME EIGHTH GRADERS MASTER NATIONAL VOCABULARY COMPETITION

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March 23, 2021

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

Eighth-grade team gets highest honors, places fifth in the U.S.; Erin Surmann one of only 11 in the nation to earn perfect score.

An eighth-grade team representing Notre Dame Middle School achieved highest honors in the recent WordMasters Challenge, a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 125,000 students nationwide. The Notre Dame eighth-grade team scored an impressive 179 points out of a possible 200 in the second of three meets this year, placing fifth in the country. 

Competing in the blue division of the WordMasters Challenge, NDMS eighth grader Erin Surmann earned a perfect score of 20, one of only 11 eighth graders to achieve this result. Other students from Notre Dame Middle School who achieved outstanding results in the meet included eighth-grader Lucy Milback, who scored a 19. The students were coached in preparation for the WordMasters Challenge by Kelly Simon, chair of the language and literature department in the middle school, and Meredith Scott, who teaches writing and reading.

"Both Erin and Lucy spent many hours studying for this test," said Scott, who also directs Notre Dame's theatre program. " The two girls are active participants on our daily WordMasters lessons and then go home to practice with the Quizlets they create themselves. I am so proud of their hard work paying off!"

Simon said she also is proud of the eighth graders' performance in the challenge.

"Our kids really worked hard this year and Erin and Lucy went above and beyond," she said. "Their work ethic and determination to improve is shown daily in their classes. This was their eighth WordMasters Challenge test and since their first in sixth grade, they have been working toward getting these impressive scores. I am amazed by all of the students and how well they handle and grow their skills with this very difficult test."

Simon also noted that overall student growth was evident, especially this year.

"To give some perspective, there are 12 students on this particular test with scores between 17 and 20," she said. "On our first test this school year, there were only four students with these scores. That's really good. That's why the class as a whole placed fifth in the nation."

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. Working to solve the analogies helps students learn to think both analytically and metaphorically. 

Notre Dame Middle School has been competing for more than 11 years in the annual competition.

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.

The WordMasters Challenge program is administered by a company based in New Jersey and further information is available at the company’s website: http://www.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.