Harborfields Elementary Students Win 1st In National Competition

GREENLAWN, NY — Greenlawn students seem to have a bright future ahead of themselves as far as a vast vocabulary is concerned.

Two teams representing Thomas J. Lahey Elementary School, part of the Harborfields Central School District, achieved Highest Honors in the recent WordMasters Challenge, a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 125,000 students annually, according to a news release.

The WordMasters Challenge exercises students' critical thinking skills and encourages contestants to become familiar with a set of new words that are considerably harder than their grade level. Participants are then challenged to use the words to complete analogies to express various logical relationships.

The fourth-grade team scored an impressive 195 points out of a possible 200 in the second of three meets this year, placing first in the United States. In addition, the fifth-grade team scored 188 points, finishing third nationwide.

Competing in the Challenge’s Blue Division, fourth graders, were: Claire Bernstein, Abigail Kelly, Elise Larson, Charlotte Storm and Molly Walsh, as well as fifth-graders Michael Palermo and Lorelei Tripp. Each earned a perfect score of 20. Nationally, only 37 fourth-graders and 39 fifth-graders achieved this result.

Other students from Thomas J. Lahey Elementary School who achieved outstanding results in the meet include fourth-graders Dylan Basile, Sophie Clayton, Asuka Cruz, Lilianna Galano, Austin Kissam, Nora McCloskey, Marie Saluk, Isabella Secko, Greenlee Stanford, Ariel Tripp and Emma Waldren.

Fifth-graders include Julia Barish, Evelyn Bavaro, Pasquale Buffolino, Emily DeNisco, Audrey Donnelly, Kaitlyn Lockhart, Lucy Meindel, Becky Pashman, Belen Ramos, Callie Schomburg, Rowan Soper and Leo Sternschein.

"Congratulations to each of the aforementioned students as well as WordMasters Challenge coach Christine Mayr," the district wrote.