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McKenzie Middle School is Vocabulary Bowl Winner

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McKENZIE — McKenzie Middle School is the Middle School Champion for November in the Vocabulary Bowl, topping thousands of North American middle schools.
Vocabulary.com sponsors the annual online Vocabulary Bowl with the mission of closing the word gap so students can achieve at higher levels.
In November, the second month of the 2020-21 season, MMS students mastered 43,272 words for the Middle School Division win. It’s McKenzie’s first monthly win. In 2018-19, the school earned the season title for Tennessee middle schools.
Vocabulary.com also awarded medals to the five MMS students who mastered the most words during the school’s winning month: Tobey Brooks (1,452 words), Alessandra Ruiz (835), Ally Gibson (621), Rachel Essary (514) and La’Nyiah Newbill (490).

For the 2020-21 season, MMS currently sits in first place among all middle and elementary schools and first place among all Division III schools (less than 500 students). Among all schools, MMS is in fifth place.
In December, MMS topped Division III and was third among all middle and elementary schools.
In January so far, the school sits in second place in Division III and fourth among middle and elementary schools.
Principal Dorethea Royle told The Banner, “When students acquire solid vocabulary skills, it unlocks so many opportunities for their academic and future success as they become adults. Possessing a strong vocabulary for students greatly improves reading comprehension and helps build confidence, as students become better communicators through spoken words and written expression.
It is exciting to see our students compete with other schools across the nation that have a much larger enrollment than ours, yet McKenzie Middle School has surpassed all middle schools. I am extremely proud of our students for their success with vocabulary.com”