Nationally, only 27 fourth- graders achieved a perfect score.

Other students in the Roanoke Rapids Graded School District who achieved outstanding scores in the first meet include fourth-graders Mary Foster, Kamdyn Jean and Jake Wynne, each scoring 19. Nationally, only 74 fourth-graders achieved this score.

The students were coached by Shelia Williams.

Also achieving outstanding scores were Chaloner seventh-graders Isaiah Alston and and McKenzie Perry, each scoring 19. Nationally, only 66 seventh-graders achieved this score.

The students were coached by Shannon Dickinson.

The WordMasters Challenge is an exercise in critical thinking that first encourages students to become familiar with a set of interesting new words 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. 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.