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Washington Evening Journal
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Future problem-solvers win international awards
Eighteen home-schooled students from Southeast Iowa attended the Future Problem Solving 2024 International Competition last month, and all 18 ranked in the top 10 at least once while they were there. The students traveled to Indiana University in Bloomington and joined other problem solvers from 29 U.S. states and 12 countries from June 5-9.
The competition was held by Future Problem Solving Program International, an educational nonprofit that pitches problems based on “hypothetical future situations” to kids to solve.
In the Global Issues Problem Solving competition, teams and individual competitors had two hours to analyze a futuristic scenario on the topic of Air Quality. The specific future scenario involved domed structures where people with severe respiratory conditions had to live in 2046. Using the FPS process, teams of four students write sixteen possible problems that may occur as a result of the Air Quality scenario, determine the most significant problem, create and write sixteen solution ideas, decide relevant criteria, evaluate the solutions using the criteria, and write a detailed action plan describing the team’s best solution. After the written competition, teams prepare and perform a Presentation of Action Plan that demonstrates the effectiveness of the team’s top-ranking solution idea.
In the junior division (grades 4-6), the team of Ann-Marie Cotner, Jeremiah Hay, Josiah Hay, and Zachariah Hay placed 13th in the written competition out of 54 teams. The team’s Presentation of Action Plan skit qualified for the final round of competition where the team placed fourth internationally. Team alternate, Tehila Oyeyviola, joined the team for the oral presentation.
Ella Chiang, Hanna Fritz, Lily Newton, and Elizabeth Snyder in the middle division (grades 7-9) placed ninth out of 64 teams in the difficult written competition. This team also qualified for skit finals and are the International Champions! The team, therefore, performed their first-place presentation for all 1,263 participants on stage at the IU Auditorium.
The senior division (grades 10-12) team of Peter LeSage, Jacob Newton, Clara Tse, and Micah Tu placed 10th from among the 53 best teams worldwide in the Global Issues Problem Solving written competition and qualified for the Presentation of Action Plan finals.
Katelynn Newton, Molly Ramsey, Noelle Schnoebelen, and Samuel Snyder, also in the senior division, placed 17th in the written portion of the competition. This team also qualified for the Presentation of Action Plan finals and placed fourth internationally.
In the junior division Global Issues Problem Solving individual competition, Lydia Brown, a sixth grader, placed second worldwide.
In addition to placing 17th with his team in the written competition and fourth with his team in the Presentation of Action Plan competition, Sam Snyder participated in the senior division storytelling competition. Sam performed his futuristic story with six voice changes to the delight of the audience members and four judges; two of the four judges awarded Sam perfect scores. Sam is the 2024 World Champion senior division FPS storyteller!
The home-schooled problem solvers also joined students from Wisconsin, South Carolina, and Kentucky for a fun act in the FPS Variety Show.
Because 2024 is the 50th anniversary of the Future Problem Solving Program, coaches were given a medal for each team called to the stage to receive a top award. The medals read, “I Coach International Champions!” and the students of coach Paula Lawson-Moore earned seven.
