Brishty Som, a third-grader at Newton-Lee Elementary, recently won the highest honors in this year's WordMasters Challenge, a national language arts competition. More than 225,000 students, in grades three through eight, enter the annual competition, which consists of three separate meets held at intervals during the school year.
Som, who was coached by Shannon Sutter, competed in the difficult Blue Division and earned a perfect score at the first meet held in December. She was one of 127 third-graders across the country to earn a perfect score.
The challenge is an exercise in critical thinking, which encourages students to become familiar with a set of new words harder than their grade level, then challenges them to use the words to complete analogies expressing various kinds of logical relationships.
Name: Brishty Som.
Town/Neighborhood: Ashburn/Belmont Country Club.
Years in the Community: Two years.
Occupation/Position: Third-grader.
Achievements: WordMaster Challenge I, winner.
Family: Father, Dr. Pradip Som, research scientist; mother, Sharon Som, wildlife ecologist.
Favorite local restaurant/place: Olive Garden Restaurant.
Sports Interests/Activities/Hobbies: Art/soccer/Indian classical dance.
Community Ties: Girl Scout Brownie.
Personal Goals: I want to be a scientist when I grow up. Also, I want to be artist.
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