13 Sep 2023
Tournament of Minds (TOM) is a program for all primary and secondary students providing the opportunity to solve authentic, open-ended challenges that foster creative, divergent thinking whilst developing collaborative enterprise, excellence and teamwork. Teams choose from challenges set in the arts, language literature, social sciences and STEM. This year our Gundagai Public School TOM team selected the STEM challenge. This required them to engineer a bird that flies unassisted, and can perform two separate manoeuvres, whilst delivering a presentation on the science and mathematics behind the creation. Our TOM team took part in the regional finals in Wagga. Here, Bella Amos, Amelia Kerr, Chase Polsen, Kaylee Rose, Alex Ryan, Grace Wheaton and Hunter Wickham, represented our school with pride. They first had to present their long-term challenge to a panel of judges. After that they were tested with a spontaneous challenge, where they had only five minutes to complete an additional challenge entitled ‘Less is More’. They displayed stage skill, creativity, and perseverance beyond their years, and should be extremely proud of their efforts. Congratulations team!