Mill Creek students shine in WordMasters Challenge

Submitted by Geneva Unit School District 304

Four students representing Mill Creek Elementary School in Geneva recently won highest honors in this year’s WordMasters Challenge, a national language arts competition entered by approximately 220,000 students annually, which consists of three separate meets held at intervals during the school year.

Competing in the very difficult Gold Division of the Challenge, fifth-grader Abby Rieckearned perfect scores on each of the three meets this year, making her one of only seven students to do so in the entire country.

Competing in the Blue Division of the Challenge, third-grader Reece Zonts made only two errors over the course of the year’s three meets. By achieving such outstanding cumulative results, Reece was one of the 19 highest-scoring third-graders in the entire country this year.

In addition, three fifth-graders earned perfect scores in the year’s Gold Division third meet held in April: Amanda Kural, Hannah Pell and Abby Rieck.

Others who also earned impressive results in the year’s final meet included: third-graders Jason Belloli, Nicholas Brainard, Jack Hartmann, Lulu King, Rebecca Kural, Katherine Kemke, Sophia Lindenfelser, Michael Daanen, Kayla Mason, Matti Niemela, Grace Packenham, Sarah Reed, Shayla Spezzano, and Michelle Wang; fourth-grader Ryan Klemm; and fifth-graders Noah Krouse, Jessica Valete, Lucas Bice, Mohammed Kadiri, Brendan Kispert, and Alex Sharp.

The students were coached in preparation for the Challenge by Ms. Jongebloed, K. Donovan and L. Ledford.