Levi McCamish, a student at Arrow Classical Education, was recently recognized as the best cursive writer—not in the school, the county or the state, but the nation.
Levi, 6, was sent a letter on April 22 from New American Cursive Penmanship that notified him of his victory for cursive writing in the first-grade boys division.
At his school last week, Levi said he was such a good cursive writer “because I’m an artist” and “God made me one.”
Also, “I practiced a lot.”
He said his parents, Luke and Tiffany, worked with him two or three days each week for 30 minutes at a time. He also had the help of his “Mamaw,” Barbara Bobo, a classroom assistant at the school whom he said he calls “Mrs. Bobo” at school.
Levi is a student in Nathana Scheller’s first grade class at Arrow Classical Education, a hybrid school in which students attend at the First Baptist Church campus in the mornings and go to their residences for home school in the afternoon, said Carley Coursey, the director of the school.
Currently, the school educates about 30 students in kindergarten through third grade, Coursey said. Next year the school will offer schooling up to fourth grade and is expected to have more than 50 students, Coursey said.
Coursey said students who learn cursive better develop neural connections in the brain and improve self-discipline.
Apparently, lawmakers agree. The Kentucky General Assembly in its most recent session passed a bill that mandates “cursive writing to be included as a course of study in all elementary schools beginning in the 2025-2026 school year,” according to SB 167.
“It’s tried and true,” Coursey said.
It’s also a way for artistic students, like Levi, to find another mode of expression.
“For a child like Levi, he’s artistic,” Coursey said. “It’s a beautiful thing for him.”
