Bowl fans, you were not alone if you were watching the Leaderboards last month and found yourself wondering, "Who in the world is Nimitz High School?" As of midnight on New Year's Eve, they are the December Vocabulary Bowl Champion, and a serious new threat as we get deeper into the 2016 - 2017 season.
It's safe to say that the Nimitz Cougars were not really on anyone's radar up until they suddenly appeared in the top ranks toward the end of the first week in December. After all, these cats from the Aldine Independent School District in Houston, Texas had not yet earned a spot on the top ten in their state or the High School field, to say nothing of the entire competition. That's why when "Nimitz High School" popped up in a flash of green on the overall words mastered Leaderboard, Bowl fans across the land were scratching their heads and wondering: A) Who are these guys? And B) How did they do that?
To find out, we asked Mr. Andrew Terrell, who is one of the teachers leading the charge at Nimitz. Mr. Terrell, a.k.a. "Cpt. Mal Reynolds," says that "Vocabulary… as an oft-overlooked fundamental in learning can lead to a greater understanding of content," and that he and his colleagues are using lists to integrate word learning with instruction. They are committed to vocabulary improvement as a way to "reinforce long-term learning that we strive to encourage in our urban school setting."
As for the Bowl, Mr. Terrell also tells us that "The competition aspect of Vocabulary.com aligns directly into my program's gamification system where challenges are issued along with goals for leveling up throughout the term." Some teachers at Nimitz have students practicing as a refresher or introduction during those often under-utilized transition times such as morning attendance, allowing the students to make the most of their learning day.
Let's put Nimitz's word learning efforts in perspective here and take a look at the numbers. For the entire 2015 - 2016 Bowl season, Nimitz had mastered just 1,290 words between October 1 and April 30. Last month, they were averaging 1,141 words mastered per day, ratcheting up a grand total of 35,386 for December.
And for anyone who thinks that maybe the Cougars coasted to an easy victory during a quiet stretch between the holidays when students were on vacation, it was anything but quiet in terms of word learning action. In fact, our team at Vocabulary.com tuned into the real-time Leaderboards on December 29th to find that Nimitz, Lanier Middle of Texas and Brentwood High School of New York were locked in a three-way tie for the day at one point. The jockeying for the top slot continued for hours and days, with Lanier and Nimitz vying for the lead, and Bowl fans everywhere watching eagerly in the final days. As of midnight on December 31st, when much of the country was watching a glittery ball drop, the Nimitz Cougars had another reason to cheer - their name was affixed at number one. For the first time ever, but probably not the last, they achieved word domination and claimed the monthly Champions Banner.
As 2017 gets underway, let's reflect on the Nimitz December Bowl win as a reminder that you never know who's going to come out of nowhere and show us all what they've got. Who's going to hoist that glorious green Champions Banner next month? It all starts with just a few teachers, students hungry for a challenge, and just a few minutes a day...