Harker had another great year in the Future Problem Solving International competition, sending students in every division to the finals of the competition, which are held at the FPS International Conference. This year, the conference is being held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, of the four teams invited to the international conference, three are from Harker. In the months prior to the school closure, students from each of the divisions met and worked through the year’s scenario.
In the junior division (grades 4-6), the team of sixth graders Krish Nachnani, Aditya Shivakumar, Jonathon Szeto and Veeraz Thakkar earned first place, while sixth graders Cyrus Ghane, Charlie Wang, Daniel Miao and Kairui Sun took second place. Both teams will be headed to the internationals. Individual junior competitors Brenna Ren and Helen Gu, both grade 6, placed second and fourth respectively, and also qualified for internationals.
The team of eighth graders Ritu Belani, Reshma Kosaraju, Aeliya Grover and Olivia Xu placed third in the middle division team competition. In individual competition, Anandita Arun, grade 7, placed second, and Kosaraju placed fourth; both earned an invite to internationals. Belani also took second place in scenario writing, securing yet another internationals spot for Harker.
Seniors Sriya Prathuri, Amla Rashingkar and Tina Xu were invited to internationals for taking first place in the senior division team competition, where seniors Anvi Banga, Jack Hansen, Anika Tiwari and Alicia Xu earned third place. Junior Hilari Fan took fourth place in the individual competition.
Eighth graders Rohan Thakur, Shahzeb Lakhani, Daniel Wu and Kailash Ranganathan had a successful run at last week’s Future Problem Solving Program International Conference, where the team took first place in the Presentation of Action Plan event. Teams in this event put together an impromptu four-minute presentation using provided guidelines and resources. Congratulations!
Harker students from the lower, middle and upper schools headed to San Diego last weekend for the Future Problem Solving California State Bowl, where teams from all three divisions won in various categories.
In the senior division (grades 10-12), the grade 11 team of Taylor Lam, Sara Min, Kelly Shen, and Tiffany Wong won for Presentation of Action Plan. In Global Issues Problem Solving, Jin Tuan, Amla Rashingkar, Sriya Prathuri, and Arushi Madan, all grade 10, took third place. Tuan also did well in Individual Global Issues Problem Solving, placing fourth overall.
Middle division students (grades 7-9) were especially successful, with the grade 8 team of Rohan Thakur, Shahzeb Lakhani, Daniel Wu and Kailash Ranganathan emerging as the winners in Global Issues Problem Solving, qualifying them for the international competition in June. Ninth graders Stephanie Shen, Luisa Pan and Elaine Zhai all participated in the MAGIC (Multiple Affiliate Global Issues Competition) event, in which teams are formed with students from different schools. Shen’s team placed first in Presentation of Action Plan, in which Zhai’s team took second place. In Global Issues Problem Solving, Pan’s team placed first.
Competing in the junior division (grades 4-6) was the grade 5 team of Daniel Chen, Anika Pallapothu and Anandita Arun, who earned third place in Presentation of Action Plan.
Watch for the article on Future Problems Solvers and other competitive programs in the 2018 summer issue of Harker Magazine to be delivered in late June.
For many years, Harker’s Future Problem Solving program has proven invaluable to students in grades 6-12 who wish to engage in global issues while also developing their research and critical analysis skills. This year, the program was expanded to the lower school in the form of a grade 5 club to help prepare students for involvement in middle school.
The program is off to a good start, according to lower school English teacher Scott Murphy, who currently advises the lower school’s FPS club.
The club mainly serves to familiarize students with the procedure of FPS competitions. “In club, students practiced the different parts of the procedure and exercised creative and critical thinking skills,” said Murphy. FPS competitions typically deal with real-life or near-future scenarios, such as environmental or economic issues. By contrast, the lower school FPS club is “focused more on fairy tale scenarios, like what would happen if Robin Hood left Sherwood Forest and what becomes of Goldilocks’ reputation after the incident with the three bears,” Murphy said.
These club sessions act as precursors for “practice problem” sessions held on weekends, where the students practice solving problems in an environment simulating a real FPS competition, led by middle and upper school students.