Four students at Abington High School won high honors in the second meet of WordWright Challenge this past December. Allison MacLeod (’19) earned a perfect score and was placed among the 34 highest scoring eleventh graders in the country. Freshman Lyla Blanchard and juniors Madisen Caferro and Julia Do achieved honorable mentions as well. This is the second time MacLeod has made no error.

WordWright Challenge is a “national reading competition for students in grades 9 through 12 that involves analytical reading of many kinds of prose and poetry.”  According to their press release, this year’s competition involved more than 65,000 students from 48 states.

When asked about the WordWright Challenge, MacLeod stated “It’s challenging, but it also goes hand in hand with SAT and college preparation, so I have developed the skills needed to succeed. Hard work in one helps you in the other.”

Caferro (’19) stated that “WordWright is tricky because although you can study the vocab ahead of time, it’s not enough just to know what the words mean. It’s not really a vocab test as the name implies— it’s more of an analysis and reading skills test, and the texts they provide can be very layered.”

For Caferro, “the hardest part of WordWright is the fact that it’s multiple choice, and there are 5 options for each question. I often feel like I can eliminate 2 or 3 answers, but then it’s very hard to pick just one of the other options. My teacher Dr. G often says they give you ‘good, better, and best’ answers that could all work, and those options are definitely overwhelming.”

“I’m happy that our school did so well at this last meet! I think it is a great way to represent our school’s excellence to the rest of the nation,” states Caferro.

There are two more meets left for this year’s WordWright Challenge and while some students dislike the difficulty of the competition, others look forward to the results and recognition they gain from excellence in the challenge. In fact, it is the only competition where students celebrate even getting one answer correct, as it is that challenging. Stay tuned for results from the next WordWright Challenge!