Record Number of Lakota Students Competing in National Contests

Over 1300 Lakota students are excited about challenging themselves in national math and language arts contests.

"It was so fun. I enjoyed it so much,” said Chase, who is in third grade at VanGorden Elementary. “I've been waiting for this moment for a really long time, since kindergarten actually.”

Independence Elementary fourth-grader Harper added, “It was fun reading and learning new words to use. The questions were fun because they were so hard. When do we get to do this again?”

This year, Lakota is offering the contests to more students than ever before. “We are funding the Noetic math contest and WordMasters Challenge again this year, but we have been able to increase the offering to over 1300 students,” said Assistant Director of Gifted Services Lauren Webb. “We are thrilled to offer these opportunities for our gifted math and ELA students and can’t wait to see their success!”

ELA students are taking part in the WordMasters Challenge, a national competition for students in grades 3-8 that encourages growth in vocabulary and verbal reasoning.  Each year, over 125,000 students from some of the best public and private schools throughout the United States participate in the WordMasters Challenge. The competition consists of three 20-minute analogy-solving meets; Independence fourth-grader Jonah just competed in the November meet and looks forward to additional contests that will be held later in the school year. “I liked how I was able to learn new words and the words were challenging.” Independence fifth-grader Zoe added, “I think WordMasters is a really good opportunity to experience working together with someone new on something fun. I believe if any kid gets picked to be in WordMasters, I think they should take the opportunity.”

The Noetic Learning Math Contest is a semiannual problem-solving contest that is also popular with students. “My students are so excited to participate in the Noetic competition and have enjoyed the challenge of preparing for it,” said VanGorden teacher Tina Abner. “They’re a little bit nervous to try something so new to them, but they’re also very excited to compete with third graders from all over the country.” Her students agree. Coral added, “Some questions were hard, but it was very fun. I love being part of this competition. It feels very special. I loved the challenge of seeing how many problems I could figure out."

The Noetic competition is designed to help students develop problem-solving skills, encourage their interest in math, and to inspire them to excel in math. And it’s working, according to Endeavor third-grader Mackinley Falconer. “I think it was good for my learning. It tested my math skills and it pushes me to learn more stuff.”