WOODLAND — Richard Schmitt, Jr., a seventh-grade student at Woodland Consolidated School is one of 16 students from across the country that have displayed excellent handwriting skills to become national winners in the 20th annual Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest.
This year, more than 220,000 students participated in the annual contest; Zaner-Bloser estimates that more than 2.5 million students have participated in the contest during its 20-year history.
Woodland Consolidated School officials were proud to submit Richard Schmitt’s entry into the contest. “He represented the best handwriting from our school,” they said.
Schmitt’s entry was judged according to the Zaner-Bloser Keys to Legibilty, Size, Spacing and Slant.
“I am very proud of Richard,” said Principal of the Woodland School Susie Schloeman. “We believe that handwriting is an invaluable skill that is critical to developing literacy and leads to academic and career success.”
Judges selected state winners in Grades 1-8 for both public and private schools. State winners competed against each other to become one of the 16 public and private National Grade Level Winners. The National Grade Level Winners then competed to be chosen as one of eight Grand National Champions.
The annual Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting contest encourages legible handwriting by testing the abilities of students in Grades 1-8 in both Public and Private Schools who use the Zaner-Bloser Handwriting program.
As a National Winner, Richard won a trophy and a $250.00 cash prize, his teacher, David Sterris, won a $500.00 Zaner-Bloser Gift Certificate, and Woodland School won a Handcrafted Certificate by Zaner-Bloser Master Penman Michael Sull.
Woodland Consolidated School is a Prek-8 school that has 142 students enrolled in it. The school takes pride in the individual attention that the students receive in their education and strives to give every student the opportunity to become a lifelong learner. Programs like Zaner-Bloser allow all of the students the opportunity to demonstrate a skill that is learned in their early years of education.
