Ludowici boy is finalist for $10,000 memory championship
Ludowici, GA—A Ludowici fifth-grader will embark in less than three weeks on a voyage to become a national memory champion and earn a $10,000 grand prize.
Obadiah Nielsen, 10, of Ludowici, near Fort Stewart, Georgia, is one of 16 finalists in the National Memory Master competition. On May 2 Obadiah 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 am very excited to be an NMM finalist,” Obadiah said. “I plan on studying diligently for the competition, but I’m also looking forward to the food and maybe some snorkeling while on the cruise!”
The 16 finalists have already been through a rigorous series of local and regional competitions to reach the finals. Obadiah’s presentation to reach this point focused on the sovereignty of God throughout the Middle Ages.
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.
Obadiah attends a Classical Conversations community in Ludowici. He is the son of Andrew and Amanda Nielsen and the oldest of seven children. He is finishing his sixth year as a Classical Conversations, or CC, student.
He enjoys studying history and pursues scientific inquiry independent of school. This past year he played Little League football. He spends most of his free time outside but enjoys cooking and reading as well as fixing things for his mother while his father is deployed to Romania with the U.S. Army. Obadiah is also part of the children’s choir at his church, First Baptist of Ludowici.
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
