Deniliquin North Public School has qualified for state finals in Sydney this Sunday, after competing at the Riverina NSW Tournament of Minds (ToM) round in Wagga Wagga last month.
ToM is a problem-solving program for teams of students from both primary and secondary years.
Teams are required to take on a long-term challenge for six weeks without assistance from teachers, parents or peers from one of the following disciplines: the arts, STEM, language, literature and social sciences.
Students present their ideas — their challenge solution — to a panel of judges and an audience on tournament day.
They have 10 minutes in which to present, and must do so within a 3m x 3m performance area.
The teams must also participate in an unseen spontaneous challenge on tournament day.
The North School competed in the arts division and the many weeks of Tuesday afternoon practice paid off with a win.
Wagga’s Sturt Public School was the runner-up.
The Deni North team continues a strong history in ToM for the school, which has had teams make Victorian finals several times.
This year it is competing in the NSW competition, guided by teacher Megan Hunter.
North School ToM team members Georgie Butcher and Lotus Gallpen-Brown described their regional finals experience and said the team “all felt as though we had done well in both of the components of the final”.
“In the spontaneous challenge, we were asked to present and explain who took the number one out of the universe, why they did it and what the impacts were,” they said.
“We had only four minutes to brainstorm our ideas and one minute to present them.
“At the end of the day, when the presentation and awards ceremony occurred, our many weeks of hard work paid off and we won the competition.
“A huge thanks to Mrs Hunter for supporting us.”
The team will now compete at the University of NSW campus in Sydney this Sunday, against winners from other regions across the state.
In-school fundraising has taken place at the school this week to raise money to support the trip, including a cake stall on Tuesday and a gold coin donation casual day on Wednesday.
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