Six teams and two individual students from Birchwood School have qualified to compete at the State Bowl of International Future Problem Solving. Though it is being held virtually again this year, these students engaged in a rigorous process of research and an in-depth, six-step problem solving process. Their final written work was evaluated by a panel of judges and the best were invited to compete at the State Bowl. The massive problems these students are tackling in this year’s competition are youth in competitive sports, wearable technology, human environmental impact, and personalized medicine.
Junior Teams:
Ishika Chand
Ayat Jaffar
Yara Salam
Haadeya Salman
Ted Alten
Manya Raina
Sabrina Syed
Eric Velez
Joshua Chen
Joshua Gordon
Lorn Mahoney
Jonathan Samulak
Middle Teams:
Arsheya Ahuja
Fayez Issa
Aanya Lakireddy
Siya Lakireddy
Maddie Debelak
Omar Elbadawy
Ben Miyares
Areesha Nouman
Lydia Chen
Omar Issa
Chloe Leng
Manan Raina
Individuals:
Calvin Lei
Michael Zhu
Their coach and Birchwood School Co-Founder, Mrs. Helene Debelak responded to the news saying, “We are so proud of these students who have qualified as State Bowl Finalists. They have tackled real global issues with hours of research and a complex problem-solving process. In weekly sessions, teachers cultivate creative and critical thinking skills and then watch the students take off!”