Future Problem Solvers at Timberline Advance to International Conference

There’s a group of Timberline students advancing to the international level of Future Problem Solvers! Lucy Gannon, Maryum Khan, Andrew Wilson and Max Fahrenkrug won the state competition on Friday, April 8. The International Future Problem Solvers event will be held at UMass Amherst in June! This is the first time these students have participated in this statewide competition. Congratulations!

Timberline Future Problem Solvers

Lucy Gannon, Maryum Khan, Andrew Wilson and Max Fahrenkrug

About the Future Problem Solvers Competition

There are different aspects students can compete in: global issues, community problems, scenario writing and scenario performance.  To get started, the students are told the theme of the global issue – insects, water supply, building green, and mining were the themes used this year.  Students are told to research the topic as much as they can before to get an idea of the issues that arise from the topic.  They are then given a scenario from the future dealing with this topic.  They have no idea what is going to be in this scenario, just that it will be focused around the theme. They have a 6-step process to follow including: identifying 16 problems, the biggest underlying problem, creating 16 solutions, creating criteria for these solutions, judging these solutions against the criteria and then coming up with a final action plan.  Within each step there are specific criteria they must meet, such as specific wording used or offering a variety of problems in different categories (business, economy, geography, etc).  They have to do all of this in two hours, from reading the initial scene to writing their action plan.