At Hume Elementary, we are incredibly proud to celebrate an outstanding achievement in the 2026 Cursive is Cool® contest, a North America-wide handwriting competition hosted by the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation (AHAF) for students from kindergarten through grade 7.
This year, approximately 100 Hume students representing five classrooms in grades 1–5 participated in the contest under the leadership of classroom teachers Ms. Teresa Keenan, Mrs. Fay Wheeler, Mrs. Janet Mushumanski, Mrs. Kim Hammerich and Mr. Les Chirico. Their efforts resulted in an extraordinary accomplishment: 15 of the 42 awards presented across North America were awarded to Hume Elementary students, our school representing the highest number of Creativity award recipients of any participating school! This is Hume Elementary School's strongest showing since Hume first entered the contest in 2020.
Beyond the awards themselves, this achievement is a meaningful reflection of Hume's school-wide commitment to developing strong writers. Our theory of action is grounded in creating a cohesive approach to writing—providing students with frequent opportunities to write, using common instructional and editing strategies, celebrating student writing, and making learning visible. While no single contest defines success, these results are an encouraging indicator that our collective efforts are helping students grow as confident, capable writers.
To recognize this remarkable achievement, Lauren Mooney Bear, Chair of the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation's Cursive is Cool contest, travelled from the United States to personally present the student awards and recognize Hume Elementary with an Outstanding School Award during a special school-wide celebration.
In addition to the success of our students, Ms. Teresa Keenan and Mrs. Fay Wheeler were both honoured with nominations for Outstanding Teacher/Educator, recognizing their dedication to fostering strong handwriting skills in young learners and a love of learning.
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The newly created Journey Award recognizes students who have overcome significant challenges while demonstrating perseverance and determination. Congratulations to Blake K. on this special honour. Blake broke his arm this year and learned to write in cursive with his non-dominant hand.
Research continues to highlight the many benefits of handwriting, including stronger memory, improved literacy development, greater creativity, and deeper learning. We are proud that our students have embraced these skills while demonstrating such care, persistence, and pride in their work.
We were also thrilled to share this exciting news with our community through and the Nelson Star. Ms. Keenan spoke with CBC about the contest, the value of handwriting, and the importance of developing strong writing skills in today's classrooms. You can listen to the interview here:
A special thank you to the teachers at Hume School for embracing the benefits of cursive writing in education and inspiring so many students to participate in the Cursive is Cool contest.
Congratulations to all our award winners, participating students, staff, and families. We are so proud of the incredible representation of Hume Elementary across North America. Together, they are truly making their mark.