Young minds best in country
The young minds at Palmerston North’s Ross Intermediate School are some of the best in the country.
Teams from Ross Intermediate won two national titles at the Tournament of the Minds final in Wellington, one in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), and the other in the arts category.
The tournament is a problemsolving competition for teams.
The boys’ STEM team is off to the world championships in Australia in October. At the national final, earlier this month, teams had to come up with a presentation and a spontaneous idea.
The boys’ STEM team had to create an animal, then figure out a way to trap it. They created a cross between a clam, a scorpion and a worm, called ‘‘Barry’’.
They presented to the judges on how to trap it humanely.
The team was ecstatic with the win, 12-year-old George Yates said.
The arts team created a hypothetical scenario of two different themes: eggs and tomatoes.
Tomatoes wanted to fund the arts during wartime and eggs wanted to use the money to fund the war effort. Eventually, their eggs and tomatoes reached a compromise. The idea came because they love food so much.
Both teams qualified for the national final by winning the Manawatu¯ competition, which had about 50 teams.