Hagerstown girl is finalist for $10,000 memory championship
Hagerstown, MD—A Hagerstown sixth-grader will embark in less than three weeks on a voyage to become a national memory champion and earn a $10,000 grand prize.
Charity Parrott, 12, of Hagerstown, is one of 16 finalists in the National Memory Master competition. On May 2 Charity will compete in three rounds of academic memory testing during a five-day cruise to the Bahamas aboard the Carnival cruise ship Victory. Each of the finalists received two free tickets to the cruise and $800 in traveling money.
“I’m excited to compete, and I’ve worked really hard to learn all of the facts and link them together,” Charity said of the competition. “I’m also looking forward to meeting the other students from around the country!”
The 16 finalists have already been through a rigorous series of local and regional competitions to reach the finals. Charity’s presentation to reach this point detailed, in less than three minutes, the history of Europe from Charlemagne to Napoleon, emphasizing the details of the churches, kingdoms, and wars which shaped the continent.
The National Memory Master competition is hosted by Classical Conversations, a classical education resource used by homeschoolers in all 50 states and 14 foreign countries. Classical Conversations now has more than 93,000 students enrolled in its tutoring programs.
Charity attends a Classical Conversations community in Hagerstown. She is the daughter of Neil and April Parrott and one of three children. Charity is finishing her fourth year as a Classical Conversations, or CC, student and has been a National Memory Master three of those years.
Charity loves math and geography, and has worked hard to be able to start Algebra this fall. She swims competitively year-round, qualifying for state and league championships several years in a row. She has played the piano for four years and has memorized songs and Bible verses in both French and Japanese.
Charity does have a lighter side, according to her mother, April. “Charity adores Chihuahuas and can frequently be seen doodling Chihuahuas on every available surface,” she says.
In addition to the National Memory Masters competition, the first CC Capstone Cruise will also feature the third annual National Number Knockout finals and CC’s first high school commencement.
CC provides resources, guidance and a community for a home school curriculum using classical education in three developmental stages: grammar, dialectic and rhetoric, and taught from a Christian worldview, according to its founder, Leigh Bortins. She says CC supports homeschooling parents by cultivating the love of learning through a Christian worldview in fellowship with other families. She believes there are three keys to a great education: classical, Christian and community.
Started in 1997 and headquartered in West End, North Carolina, CC is a family-owned company that provides services to almost 1,900 CC communities around the world. For more information visit www.classicalconversations.com.
Contact:
John Carpenter, Communication Journalist
Classical Conversations®
(423) 618-3753
jcarpenter@classicalconversations.com
