In the month of October, Houston-area Bellaire High School topped the monthly leaderboard for words mastered and cemented their lead in our yearlong Vocabulary Bowl. Their victory was impressive: 850 students mastered 38,609 words during the month.
But they weren't the only school in Houston showing up on the Vocabulary Bowl leaderboard. All month, local rivals Chavez High School and Leland Prep were giving Bellaire a run for their money — all three Texas schools are strong contenders for victory in the Bowl. (Currently, Bellaire occupies the #1 spot and Chavez and Leland Prep are moving up in the top ten.)
Teachers routinely report that students playing for their schools love competing nationwide, but that the victory is even sweeter when the contenders are from the students' own back yard. Meanwhile, the three schools' dominance sends a message to players in other states: don't mess with Texas.
What accounts for Bellaire's strong showing? "Our success with Vocabulary.com has been driven by our students," said English teacher and Department Chair Brian Wolf, who brought Vocabulary.com to his school. "The teachers introduced Vocabulary.com, and our students were hooked. They're excited about taking ownership for their learning in the way that Vocabulary.com allows them to do."
As an added incentive, we are now awarding individual medals to the top five high scoring students in a school with a monthly leaderboard win. Students earning first-ever Vocabulary.com medals at Bellaire are Emily Pan, Martin Sirakov, Omar Uraimov, Anna Jorgensen, and William Stewart (pictured above with teachers and teammates).
Congratulations, Bellaire!