National Vocabulary Championship
Encyclopedia
The National Vocabulary Championship (NVC) was the first-ever U.S.-wide vocabulary
Vocabulary
A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
competition for high school students created by GSN, in association with The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The Princeton Review operates in 41 states and 22 countries across the globe. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college...
. Thirty thousand high school students from across the United States participated in the inaugural year (2006-2007).
The NVC aimed to inspire students to expand their vocabularies and narrow the achievement gap
Achievement gap
Achievement gap refers to the observed disparity on a number of educational measures between the performance of groups of students, especially groups defined by gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The achievement gap can be observed on a variety of measures, including standardized...
. The program offered free educational resources, created spirited competition through testing and game play, and awarded more than $100,000 annually in college tuition and other prizes.
Fifty finalists nationally received a trip to the NVC Finals, where they competed to win $40,000 toward college tuition in the form of a 529 plan
529 plan
A 529 plan is a tax-advantaged investment vehicle in the United States designed to encourage saving for the future higher education expenses of a designated beneficiary.- Overview :529 plans are named after section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code...
and to be crowned the National Vocabulary Champion.
The host of the National Vocabulary Championship was GSN host Dylan Lane
Dylan Lane
Dylan Lane is an American television game show host. Although he was born in Tyrone, he was raised in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Huntingdon Area High School in Huntingdon....
.
Owing to changes in GSN policy and administration, the NVC will no longer take place.
How to Compete
The NVC was open to eligible high school students in the United States between the ages of 13 and 19 years old and in grades 9-12. Home schooled students were also eligible to compete.There were two ways to enter the competition:
Eligible students at participating schools in eight local markets could qualify to participate in a Citywide Championship for a chance to win $5,000 toward college tuition and other prizes, as well as a trip to the national finals.
Eligible students nationwide could also participate through a National Qualifying Competition via on-line and regional exams offered by The Princeton Review for a chance to compete in the NVC Finals.
2007-2008 Citywide Championships
Eight U.S. cities across the country were chosen each year to host Citywide Championship events. Eligible students who wanted to compete in one of the local Citywide Championships had to attend a participating high school, register with the designated NVC coach at their school, and take the NVC in-school qualifying exam. All public and private high schools within these markets and their surrounding areas were invited to participate and encourage their students to compete. Approximately 100 top scorers per market qualified to compete in each Citywide Championship, where one winner received $5,000 toward college tuition and other prizes as well as a trip to the national finals.Below is a list of cities that the NVC visited in 2007-2008:
- Sacramento: Thursday, November 15th -- WINNER: Yvonne Lin (Sophomore)
- Nashville: Tuesday, November 27th -- WINNER: Brian Swenson (Junior)
- St. Louis: Thursday, November 29th -- WINNER: Rajiv Tarigopula (Sophomore)
- Detroit: Monday, December 3rd -- WINNER: Steven Banks (Senior)
- Northeast Ohio: Thursday, December 6th -- WINNER: Joel Fichter (Senior)
- New York: Monday, December 10th -- WINNER: Rebecca Maxfield (Junior)
- Pittsburgh: Monday, January 14th -- WINNER: John Oxenreiter (Senior)
- Philadelphia: Thursday, January 17th -- WINNER: Lauren Bezjak (Junior)
National Qualifying Competition
Eligible high school students who did not attend a participating school (listed under Citywide Championship) or who did not wish to take the in-school qualifying exam could compete in the National Qualifying Competition by following the below steps:1) The NVC offered an online national qualifying exam during November 2007 at winwithwords.com. For months leading up to the online exam, study tools and study modules were available at winwithwords.com
Or:
2) Top-scoring students on the online national qualifying exam had an opportunity to advance to the regional exams, which took place at designated The Princeton Review locations across the country. Forty-two top scorers from the National Qualifying Competition joined the eight citywide champions at the national finals.
Champions
| Year | Winner's Name | Home Town | Grade | Winning Sentence | Winning Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006-2007 | Robert Marsland | Madison, Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison.... |
12th | The hirsute professor maintains that his solipsism stems from a bona fide philosophical conviction rather than excessive narcissism. | Which word comes from the Latin for "alone"? | solipsism Solipsism Solipsism is the philosophical idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist. The term comes from Latin solus and ipse . Solipsism as an epistemological position holds that knowledge of anything outside one's own mind is unsure. The external world and other minds cannot be known, and might not... |
| 2007-2008 | Aliya Deri | Pleasanton, California Pleasanton, California Pleasanton is a city in Alameda County, California, incorporated in 1894. It is a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area located about east of Oakland, and west of Livermore. The population was 70,285 at the 2010 census. In 2005 and 2007, Pleasanton was ranked the wealthiest middle-sized city in... |
11th | Joseph was not perturbed by his pal's peccadillo, but his parents apprehended it to be an unambiguous portent of future dereliction. | Which word comes from the Latin for "sin"? | peccadillo |