During the past year, third-grader Nicki Mashcyakan has learned words such as slovenly, blustery, hoisting and chaffing and has had to distinguish their nuances and decipher them in analogies. In doing so, the Torrey Pines Elementary student earned a perfect score on the February meet of WordMasters Challenge, a national competition that involves solving analogies.”The national average is to get 10 or 11 correct, so to get a perfect score (of 20) is pretty amazing,” said third-grade teacher Brenda Baniaga, who has coached students for the past five years. Only three students have achieved a perfect score in the past five years, which is low considering that WordMasters meets are held three times each year, in December, February and April. Nationally, 25,160 students participated in the last meet and only 165 students achieved a perfect score. One example analogy would be: Drowsy is to alert as sluggish is to (blank); students must choose from: slovenly, blustery, frisky, patient or slim. Another analogy might state: Sheep: Forage; Outlaws: (blank), and third-graders must select from: plunder, mar, shoot, run and graze.Solving the analogies requires sophisticated thinking skills and plenty of mind synthesis, Baniaga said. “Students also have to understand the fine nuances between the words because some of these analogies are not strictly synonym, antonym,” Baniaga said. “Some of them are a matter of degrees.”Baniaga describes Mashcyakan as a bright, bubbly girl who happens to be an excellent problem solver and very conscientious about her work. “She takes her time, thinks about things and works things out,” Baniaga said. Torrey Pines Elementary has incorporated WordMasters Challenge into its recent Words Study program for third- through fifth-graders. The Blue Division serves students with average to above-average reading and reasoning skills, and the Gold Division facilitates gifted students. Every student at Torrey Pines Elementary has achieved the national average of 10 or above, according to Baniaga. “The kids love it,” Baniaga said. “They especially like it once they’ve learnt what the words mean, and we play games with them like WordMaster bingo and do charades.” Other third-graders who have performed exceptionally well include Neha Bharti, Betty Coy, Ilana Larry, Henry Smith, Emma Wineman, Isabella Johnson and Reed Vickerman, as well as fifth-grader Masha Matusova. WordMasters Challenge provides competition for third-graders through high school seniors throughout the U.S. For more information visit www.wordmasterschallenge.com.