Palm Beach Central High School's Saba Rahman Wins the First-Ever 'National Vocabulary Championship' West Palm Beach Competition

Palm Beach Central High School's Saba Rahman Wins the First-Ever 'National Vocabulary Championship' West Palm Beach Competition

Rahman Outperforms 99 Other Top Vocabulary Scholars and Wins $5,000 Toward a Higher Education Savings Plan and Qualifies to Compete in March at the National Vocabulary Championship Finals in New York

Local Dignitaries in Attendance Included West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel, Palm Beach County School District Asst. Superintendent Dr. Brenda Magee, Palm Beach County School District Director of Literacy Liz Perlman and Palm Beach County School District Administrator of K-12 English Language Arts Mary Wilson

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Nov. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Saba Rahman, a 17-year-old senior at Palm Beach Central High School in West Palm Beach, outperformed 99 other local vocabulary high school scholars tonight, winning the first-ever NVC West Palm Beach Citywide Championship. As the local champion, Rahman earned $5,000 toward a 529 higher education savings plan and qualifies to compete in the "National Vocabulary Championship" finals in New York City on March 5, 2007.

The National Vocabulary Championship is a nationwide educational initiative conceived by television network GSN that aims to promote the importance of vocabulary skills in school, at work and at play. Along with its educational partner, The Princeton Review, the NVC is hosting eight citywide events prior to the New York City finals. The finals will feature Rahman as she competes head-to-head with 49 other students from around the country to win $40,000 toward a 529 higher education savings plan and be named the "National Vocabulary Champion."

Tonight's live event, sponsored by Comcast Cable, was held at the Harriet Himmel Theatre At City Place. The competition featured 100 high school students aged between 13-and-19 from the following local schools: including Education Resource Center, ESE/Homebound, Glades Central, John I. Leonard, Lake Worth Community, Olympic Heights Community, Palm Beach Central, Palm Beach Lakes, Park Vista, Royal Palm Beach, Seminole Ridge, Suncoast, Wellington and William T. Dwyer.

On hand lending support to the event were such dignitaries as West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel, Palm Beach County School District Asst. Superintendent Dr. Brenda Magee, Palm Beach County School District Director of Literacy Liz Perlman and Palm Beach County School District Administrator of K-12 English Language Arts Mary Wilson.

Rahman sealed her victory by correctly answering nine of the ten final round questions in the fastest time -- one minute and 28 seconds. The final round featured NVC host Dylan Lane, who also serves as host of GSN's television series "Chain Reaction," reading different paragraphs to the last seven competitors. The final contestants answered a myriad of questions involving specific words in their respective paragraphs. The questions focused on synonyms, antonyms and definitions. The contestant who responded with the most correct answers in the shortest period of time under the two-minute time limit was the winner. The runner-up to tonight's contest was Nicholas Michel, a 15-year-old sophomore from Suncoast High School. Michel answered seven questions correctly in one minute and six seconds.

Said Rahman on her winning performance, "I like to read ... so I've been studying for a lifetime." Rahman was coached for the event by JoAnn Brown, a teacher at Palm Beach Central, who was in attendance tonight cheering on her participating students.

On March 5, Rahman will be joining such other recent NVC citywide championship winners as Elizabeth Van Horn, an 18-year-old senior from Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Hannah Zickgraf, a 16-year-old junior from Central High School in Philadelphia, Richard Goggin, a 17-year-old junior from Boston Latin Academy, Noah Berman, a 15-year old sophomore from Metro Classical and Academic High School in St. Louis and Daniel Weber, a 17-year-old senior from Keystone Oaks High School in Pittsburgh.

"GSN is taking the NVC across the country to raise awareness of the importance of language arts in the classroom," said Dena Kaplan, Senior Vice President of Marketing, GSN. "We're investing in America's future by providing money for college to winning students as well as making vocabulary fun and relevant in the game of life. We are thrilled that we will be seeing Saba Rahman at the national finals in March."

Comcast has lent support since August by airing "Win with Words" public service announcements. Celebrities Whoopi Goldberg, Jeff Probst, Tom Bergeron and others joined the network in filming these PSAs that encourage high school students to expand their vocabulary and, in turn, their opportunities in life.

"We're thrilled to be able to bring this program to Palm Beach area students," commented Marta Celaya-Casas, Director of Community and Government Affairs, Comcast West Palm Region. "Comcast has a strong commitment to this community, and we hope it shows through enriching programs like the National Vocabulary Championship."

To learn more about the NVC, log on to www.winwithwords.com for more information.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR PARTICIPATE IN THE NVC. Open only to high school students who are legal residents of the U.S., between the ages of 13 and 19 as of the date of each applicable NVC exam and/or event. Minors in their state of residency must provide written consent from their parent or legal guardian to be eligible to advance to an NVC citywide championship or regional exam. Void where prohibited. Please visit www.winwithwords.com for complete details, including dates of NVC qualifying examinations and events, additional eligibility restrictions and prize descriptions/restrictions.

About "Win With Words(TM)"

GSN's Win With Words public service campaign is designed to promote the importance of vocabulary skills in one's life no matter the age. Words play an important part in education, careers, communication and even being a contestant on a game show. The Win With Words campaign includes study materials, words of the day, and other elements that improve language arts year-long. These educational features can be found on the website www.winwithwords.com.

About The Princeton Review

The Princeton Review (NASDAQ:REVU) is a pioneer in the world of education. Founded in 1981 and headquartered in New York City, the Company offers private tutoring and classroom and online test preparation to help students improve their scores in college and graduate school admissions tests. The Company's free website, www.PrincetonReview.com, helps over half of university-bound students research, apply to, prepare for, and learn how to pay for their higher education, and helps hundreds of colleges and universities streamline their admissions and recruiting activities. In addition, The Princeton Review works with school districts around the U.S. to measurably strengthen students' academic skills by connecting ongoing assessment with professional development and instruction and by providing districts with college and career resources for both students and guidance counselors. The Company also authors more than 200 print and software titles on test preparation, college and graduate school selection and related topics.

About Comcast Cable

Comcast Corporation (http://www.comcast.com/) is the nation's leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services. With 23.3 million cable customers, 10 million high-speed Internet customers, and 1.6 million voice customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of broadband cable systems and in the delivery of programming content.

Comcast's content networks and investments include E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, The Golf Channel, OLN, G4, AZN Television, PBS KIDS Sprout, TV One and four regional Comcast SportsNets, including Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS). Comcast also has a majority ownership in Comcast Spectacor, whose major holdings include the Philadelphia Flyers NHL hockey team, the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team and two large multipurpose arenas in Philadelphia.

Comcast's West Palm Beach region, formerly Adelphia Cable, joined the family of Comcast companies in August of 2006 and serves cable, high-speed Internet and digital customers in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties.

Photos available at winwithwords.com

Source: GSN

CONTACT: Deborah McBride of GSN, +1-310-633-4175, dmcbride@gsn.com, or
corp.gsn.com

Web site: http://www.princetonreview.com/

Web site: http://www.comcast.com/

Web site: http://winwithwords.com/

-------
Profile: intent