The students from Ms. Hill and Mrs. Stratford’s ERWC courses raced with formulaic letters placed in-hand in a definition showdown. ERWC is a replacement English course offered for seniors, which focuses on articles and terms. On Monday, Jan. 24, the students from Mrs. Stratford’s ERWC course face the students from Ms. Hill’s ERWC course in a competition, which also helps them prepare for their vocabulary terms final. The rules of the game were: 1) Either Ms. Hill or Mrs. Stratford will define an unspecified term. 2) Both teams must identify the word in its context and they must spell out the word before the other team does. 4) They must formulate a method to spell the right word AND pronounce it correctly. Winner receives a point. Throughout the competition, tension grew and both of the teams remained pertinent. Team Hill’s student, Magaly Flores, embellished her team spirit.

“The competition was outstanding. I felt heated the entire time,” Flores said, “Though the competition was rattled and downright crazy, it helped me remember all the words.”

Both teams screamed at each other from across the stage as they were trying to spell the word correctly. Both teams worked in different strategies. The red team (Stratford) lined themselves in an organized fashion giving everyone an opportunity to spell. The yellow team (Hill) bunched themselves around their table and quickly rushed to the front of the stage at a game of speed. Observer Derek Klotzer honed in the word play.

“I thought it was intense. It gave a mixture of words and sport.” Klotzer said. The result was in favor of the Red team. Stratford’s class barely pulled the win by a single point; however, Senior Matthew Zapatero stepped up to be a team leader.

“I motivated my team and studied lots of nights before this event,” Zapatero said, “We needed to have Stratford have a two-peat so I had to step it up.”

The intellectual sporting event intensified regular word play.