Long Beach WordMasters Sixth in Nation

A number of Long Beach Middle School and elementary students were recognized for their outstanding team and individual achievements in the first WordMasters Challenge meet of the school year, held in December. WordMasters is a national language arts competition entered by approximately 220,000 students annually.

Competing in the most difficult Blue Division, the Long Beach Middle School sixth-grade team of Benedict Albergo, Samuel Brinster, Emily Burns, Ava DeBruin, Blaise Derenze, Evan Garcia, Tristan Groh, Colleen Mannle, Marina Meyer, Violet O'Connell, Trevor Radin, Jesse Scott, Lucia Techera and Gabriel Wilkens-Vega tied for sixth place in the nation among the 403 teams competing at this grade level and division.

Samuel, Jesse and Gabriel also received highest honors for individual achievement. They were among the 120 sixth graders in the nation to earn a perfect score. The rest of the team members scored an impressive 19 out of 20. Students prepared for this competition through the middle school’s Activities Promoting Thinking program, under the direction of Lorraine Radice.

At the elementary level, fifth grader Charles Gorton, a student at Long Beach Catholic Regional School, was one of only 130 students in his division to achieve a perfect score, competing in the Blue Division.

Tyler Collinson of Lido School, who was the top-scoring Long Beach third grader, was one of only 130 third graders throughout the country to score a 19 out of 20 in the Blue Division. This was the first time that she and her fellow third graders took part in the WordMasters Challenge.

Elementary students participated in the competition through the district’s Learning Activities for Raising Creativity (LARC) program, under the direction of LARC teachers Beverlee Bertinetti and Caitlin Fuentes.