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Perfect penmanship: Joe Walker Elementary celebrates handwriting champion

4 min read
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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Joe Walker Elementary principal Matt Wolfe celebrates alongside kindergartner Hunter Chappel, who was named the 2023 Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest Grand Champion. Chappel was one of about 80,000 students to enter the contest, and the overall kindergarten winner.

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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Toni Carroll, a kindergarten teacher at Joe Walker Elementary, accepts a certificate from principal Matt Wolfe during the special assembly Tuesday morning, which celebrated Carroll’s student Hunter Chappel for being named the handwriting grand champion. Following the assembly, students enjoyed slushies and extra recess.

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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Hunter Chappel and principal Matt Wolfe wave to Chappel’s family, who celebrated the handwriting grand champ alongside students at a special assembly Tuesday. Chappel was awarded a trophy and $500 for his perfect penmanship, and Joe Walker Elementary School received $1,000 to put toward handwriting tools and education.

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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Hunter Chappel proudly holds his Grand Champion trophy Tuesday, after enjoying a special assembly with his classmates and school. With him is kindergarten teacher Toni Carroll and Joe Walker Elementary principal Matt Wolfe.

When Hunter Chappel carefully wrote “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” months ago, he never dreamed that neat, precise printing would earn him recognition as the 32nd Annual Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest Grand Champion.

But on Tuesday morning, the entire Joe Walker Elementary School gathered in the auditorium to celebrate the kindergartner with perfect penmanship.

“There were 80,000 people who entered this contest,” said principal Matt Wolfe, noting that schools choose a winner who moves on to the state round. “They pick one representative from each level from the state. Then they do a grand national champion. The grand national champion is one student from kindergarten, one student from first – they only pick nine students. We, at Joe Walker Elementary, have one student who is representing kindergarten because of their writing and handwriting skills.”

Chappell was presented a trophy for his excellent printing. He also received $500 from Zaner-Bloser, who sponsors the annual National Handwriting Contest.

Chappel’s teacher, Toni Carroll, was awarded a framed certificate. The school received $1,000 for the purchase of materials through Zaner-Boser to help kids learn handwriting, and got a nice, framed certificate, too.

“We’re going to put this up in the lobby, and this will hang up for years to come. Hunter, when you’re a senior, you can come back and look at this andsay, ‘Hey, that was me,'” Wolfe said with a smile, showing off the certificate.

Every year for 32 years, Zaner-Bloser, an education company that develops and publishes literacy, handwriting and math curriculum for students in grades pre-K through sixth, hosts the National Handwriting Contest. The contest serves as incentive for students to learn the skill, and reinforces the cognitive benefits of handwriting, including better recall.

Twenty winners are chosen annually, with one grand national champion and one semifinalist named per grade. This year’s champions and semifinalists live in 16 states; Chappel is the only 2023 grand national champ in Pennsylvania.

“The amount of pride that you feel when one of your littles gets something this big,” said Carroll. “He started the year off struggling with those kinds of things. I was having him … use special dotted lines. He just bloomed. One day, it was a mess. The next day it was beautiful. I can’t even explain to you how the transition seemed to happen so fast. His fine motor skills are really good. He’s proud, he’s ornery, and he’s cute as can be. This is the kind of thing he needs.”

Carroll, who has taught kindergarten at Joe Walker for 15 years, said her schedule doesn’t allow for lots of handwriting, but she does take time at the beginning of the school year to teach her students how to hold pencils correctly and form letters.

“We spend a lot of time with strokes, to get the fine motor skills. Lots and lots of practice. The biggest thing is just getting them to understand how you make a straight line, a hump, a curve. Those simple things, repetitive motion, training those muscles to be able to form the letters, is tricky,” Carroll said.

Joe Walker’s grand champion is proof that practice makes perfect.

“We were so excited,” said Christina Zaccone, Chappel’s mom, upon learning he had been named the kindergarten grand champion. “He has a great teacher. He likes school. He’s a really great boy.”

Since being named grand champion, Chappel and Wolfe have become buddies, and Wolfe is proud of his student’s effort and recognition.

“We are a small school. There’s only nine people in the entire country who have this award. We’re representing the entire nation,” said Wolfe. “When I got the call, I was amazed. It’s good for the school and for Hunter.”

As for Chappel: “Good,” is his response, when asked how it feels to win the contest.

He said his favorite letter to write is a lowercase “g,” and then the grand champ was off to enjoy celebratory slushies and extra recess with his classmates.

“Out of 80,000 students, Hunter Chappel got the best kindergarten out of all 50 states. That is an amazing feat,” Wolfe said. “This assembly helps us really focus and ignite the importance of handwriting. We have a great community at McGuffey and Joe Walker.”

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