Clarkston Schools have a glowing point of pride in Angela Neizgoda, Abbey Hubregsen, Nadia Torres and Sarah Keller, a.k.a. the Future Problem Solvers, who represented the district on an international level
Coached by talent development specialist Holly Kornas, the team of four students from Sashabaw Middle School competed against 53 other teams from around the world and brought home two plaques ? 8th place in the Team Booklet Writing competition and 6th place in the Presentation of the Action Plan competition.
This year’s competition’s theme was ‘redistribution of wealth.? The competition took place in Fort Collins, Colorado from May 31 to June 4. The crucial point came when the students were put into a room alone and had exactly two hours to develop, evaluate and formulate an argument for the best of 16 possible solutions to the problem.
Kornas said even as coach, she was not allowed in to the room and could not see the problem her team was presented with until an hour after her students had. When she did see the problem, however, Kornas said she was confident in her team.
‘I read it and right away I knew they were going to do great. They were well prepared,? said Kornas.
Kornas was confident because she knew how much work her team put into their preparations. The students met at regular intervals, often after school, from October 2005 leading up to the final competition.
Once they knew the theme of the final competition however, they went even further, traveling to Ann Arbor to meet with an economist from Comerica Bank and practicing with Roxanne Reschke, a former coach who took teams from other districts to the international competition.
Originally working with more than 20 teams of students, Kornas said eventually only three competed at the state level.
The SMS team made a historic win at Eastern Michigan University on March 5 by becoming the first from Clarkston to ever win the Michigan Future Problem Solving Bowl and moving on to the international competition
At the state competition, a team of students from Bailey Lake Elementary, also coached by Kornas, took third place.
‘I’m still smiling,? said Kornas about her team’s success. ‘It’s still surprising to me… only because it’s our first year.?
Kornas attributed the girls success to their teamwork. ‘They work so well together. They recognize each other’s strengths and work with them.?
The competition was in the junior division, which encompasses grade 4-6. Kornas said she hopes to expand the program locally next year and compete with teams in the grades 7-9 division.
With all four girls on this year’s team being sixth graders, Kornas said she is hoping to keep them together.