Way to Go!: Paulina Cardona

Paulina Cardona, a student at Lido Elementary School in Long Beach, was one of 39 fourth-graders nationwide to earn a perfect score last month in the WordMaster Challenge, a competition that addresses high-level reading and reasoning skills. In total, 35,460 fourth-graders competed nationwide.

Paulina said she was given a vocabulary list to study for two weeks before the meet, which required her to complete various multiple-choice analogies.

"I wasn't really familiar with a lot of the words, so it was a little challenging," said Paulina, 9, noting that words included "leisurely" and "amble."

To prepare for the challenge, Paulina said that her mother - a native of Colombia - quizzed her on word meanings at night.

"As a student, Paulina is definitely one of our shining stars," said principal Brenda Young.

Meanwhile, a team of Long Beach fifth-graders took 10th place nationwide in the contest's Blue Division, which contains students of average to above-average reading abilities.

Team members were Finian Ashmead, Brendan Carpenter, Michael Cesari, Pat Geiger, Matilda Guille, Jake Kaliszewski, Savannah Kile, Kristen Miciotta, Natalie Swegler and Noelani Tomicick.