St. Edward High School's Joel Fichter Wins the Northeast Ohio Inaugrual Citywide Competition of the Second Annual 'National Vocabulary Championship'

St. Edward High School's Joel Fichter Wins the Northeast Ohio Inaugrual Citywide Competition of the Second Annual 'National Vocabulary Championship'

Fichter outperforms 94 other vocabulary scholars, winning $5,000 toward a higher education savings plan and qualifying to compete in the National Vocabulary Championship Finals in Los Angeles on March 10

KENT, Ohio, Dec. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Joel Fichter, an 18-year-old senior at St. Edward High School in Lakewood, outperformed 94 other local high school vocabulary scholars tonight, winning the NVC Northeast Ohio Citywide Championship. As the local champion, Fichter earned $5,000 toward a "529" higher education savings plan and qualifies to compete in the "National Vocabulary Championship" Finals in Los Angeles on March 10, 2008.

The National Vocabulary Championship is a national academic competition conceived by GSN (Game Show Network) and its educational partner, The Princeton Review. The competition goes beyond traditional 'spelling bees' to test word definitions and overall word comprehension while providing college-bound students with the tools necessary to effectively communicate their ideas to the world. The NVC is hosting eight citywide qualifying events prior to the NVC Finals in LA, in which Fichter will go head-to-head with 49 other top scoring students from the more than 100,000 who participated throughout the country. The winner of the NVC Finals will receive $40,000 toward a "529" higher education savings plan and the title of 2008 National Vocabulary Champion.

Presented in partnership with Time Warner Cable and sponsored locally by both Kent State University and Portage Community Bank, tonight's live event was held at Kent State University in Kent, OH. The event featured the top 95 scorers of the nearly 10,000 students who participated at the qualifying level from local area schools including: Archbishop Hoban High, Barberton High, Bay High, Brecksville-Broadview High, Brooklyn High, Cardinal Mooney High, Chagrin Falls High, Cloverleaf High, Cuyahoga Falls High, Cuyahoga Heights High, Early College - John Hay Campus, East Technical High, Elyria Catholic High, Euclid High, Firestone High, Garaway High, Glen Oak High, Green High, Holy Name High, Hoover High, James Ford Rhodes Ed. Campus, John Adams High, Lake Ridge Academy, Lakeside High, Loudonville High, Marlington High, Minerva High, North Olmsted High, North Ridgeville High, Norwalk High, Our Lady of the Elms, Riverside High, St. Edward High, St. Vincent-St. Mary High, The Beaumont School, Tuscarawas Valley High, Vermilion High and Westlake High.

On hand to lend their support to the NVC were such notables as Dr. Lester Lefton, Kent State University President, and Kent Mayor John Fender.

Fichter sealed his victory in the third and final round of competition by correctly identifying "avaricious" as the synonym of "greedy" from the following sentence:

"Seconds after Jill threw the malodorous decomposing tomato across the stagnant swamp, it was intercepted and masticated by an avaricious raccoon."

The knock-out-style round of vocabulary questions had begun with five finalists, of which Alexander Nixon (St. Edward High School) and Bijan Aboutorabi (Green High School) placed second and third, respectively. As second- and third-place finalists, Nixon and Aboutorabi will each receive Encyclopædia Britannica's 2008 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD as well as books and services from The Princeton Review. All competitors tonight were awarded one-year Encyclopædia Britannica Online subscriptions from NVC sponsor Encyclopædia Britannica.

At the NVC Finals on March 10, Fichter will be joining Detroit's Steven Banks (a 17-year-old senior from Renaissance High School), St. Louis's Rajiv Tarigopula (a 15-year-old sophomore from Parkway West High School), Sacramento's Yvonne Lin (a 16-year-old sophomore from Folsom High School) and Nashville's Brian Swenson (a 16-year-old junior from Montgomery Bell Academy), each of whom recently won their own NVC citywide championships.

A proud partner of this and other educational initiatives in the area, Time Warner Cable has again lent support to the National Vocabulary Championship. "Congratulations to the thousands of Northeast Ohio students who prepared for and participated in this year's competition and best of luck to Joel as he prepares for the National Finals on March 10," said Steve Fry, President of Time Warner Cable of Northeast Ohio.

"Time Warner has been a valued supporter and committed partner of the NVC's efforts to further promote education programs in schools throughout the Northeast Ohio region," said Dennis Gillespie, Senior Vice President of Distribution, GSN. "We're thrilled that so many students like Joel are participating in cities across the country this year and look forward to seeing him represent Northeast Ohio in the National Finals on March 10."

To learn more about the NVC, visit http://www.winwithwords.com/.

About the "National Vocabulary Championship"

GSN's National Vocabulary Championship (NVC) is a nationwide academic competition that offers high school students the opportunity to win money toward college tuition through local and national events. Created by GSN, along with educational partner The Princeton Review, the NVC is open to eligible high school students in the 50 United States and District of Columbia. The NVC is the cornerstone of GSN's award-winning "Win With Words" public service campaign dedicated to improving language arts skills in high schools by promoting the value of an enhanced vocabulary, providing free Princeton Review study materials and engaging students in wordplay. For free vocabulary study materials or for more information on GSN's National Vocabulary Championship, please visit http://www.winwithwords.com/.

About Time Warner Cable Northeast Ohio Division

Time Warner Cable is the largest cable operator in Ohio, serving Northeast Ohio, Greater Columbus, Greater Cincinnati, and Western Ohio. Time Warner Cable owns and manages cable systems passing approximately 26 million homes in 33 states. Headquartered in New York City, Time Warner Cable has 14.7 million customers for its various products, including video, high-speed data and residential telephone. This includes approximately 13.4 million basic video subscribers and more than 6.5 million customers who purchase more than one product. Time Warner Cable includes some of the most technologically advanced and best-clustered cable systems in the country, with nearly 85 percent of the Company's customers located in five geographic regions: New York, Texas, Ohio, the Carolinas and southern California. It is the largest cable provider in the nation's two largest cities, Los Angeles and New York. Leveraging its leadership in innovation and quality customer care, Time Warner Cable delivers advanced products and services such as video-on-demand, high-definition television, digital video recorders, high-speed data and Digital Phone.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: GSN

CONTACT: Cindy Ronzoni of GSN, +1-310-255-6933, cronzoni@gsn.com

Web site:

http://www.gsn.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: Photos available at http://www.winwithwords.com and http://corp.gsn.com

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