Twelve teams from 10 schools in seven school districts competed
(WAXAHACHIE, TX) March 6, 2017 – Life Middle School Waxahachie and You Can Do the Rubik’s Cube, the educational outreach arm of Rubik’s Brand Ltd, recently partnered to bring the first ever K-12th grade team competition to Texas.
During the first of its kind Texas competition – held at Life Middle School Waxahachie – teams of eight students worked collaboratively to solve 25 Rubik’s Cubes in the fastest time possible. There were three divisions separated by grade level with 12 teams from 10 schools representing 7 area school districts entered the contest.
“The Rubik’s Cube is an international symbol for hard work,” said Theresa Ellington, Instructional Technology Manager at Life School and event organizer. “It allows our students to learn how to solve problems quickly, work as a team and gain confidence. We are so happy to have hosted the first of these contests in Texas.”
In 1974, Hungarian architecture professor Erno Rubik invented the “Magic Cube”, or what today is known as the Rubik’s Cube. Since its international launch in 1980, an estimated 350 million Rubik’s Cubes have been sold and approximately one in seven people alive have tried to solve the multi-colored puzzle.
Practically impossible to solve without instruction, today the cube is also an educational tool in schools and youth groups to teach math, science, engineering and art concepts as well as critical thinking and problem solving skills. According to You Can Do the Rubik’s Cube, which provides instructions on how to solve the cube, those who have mastered the puzzle say it has increased their self-esteem, made them feel smarter and more willing to take risks, helped them overcome their fear of failure and even made them more outgoing.
Results from Life School Waxahachie Competition
In the K-5 Division, 1st place went to: Harmony School of Achievement of Harmony Public Schools in Houston with a time of 4 minutes 48.481 seconds, 2nd place went to: Hillside Academy for Excellence of Garland ISD in Garland with a time of 4 minutes 48.586 seconds, and 3rd place went to: Harmony Science Academy of Harmony Public Schools in Fort Worth who after 15 minutes solved 24 cubes.
The winners of the K-5 Solo Division are: 1st place: 4th grader, Josue Salazar from Hillside Academy with a time of 37.351 seconds, 2nd place: 3rd grader, Almas Bagythai from Harmony School of Achievement with a time of 47.655 seconds, and 3rd place: 5th grader Camilo Martinez of Harmony School of Achievement with a time of 52.575 seconds.
In the 6-8 Division, 1st place went to: Chisholm Trail Middle School of Northwest ISD in Rhome with a time of 3 minutes 24.527 seconds, 2nd place went to: Trinity Meadows Intermediate School of Keller ISD in Keller with a time of 5 minutes 30.361 seconds, and 3rd place went to: Beckham Elementary of Arlington ISD in Arlington with a time of 5 minutes 44.636 seconds.
The winners of the 6-8 Solo Division are: 1st place: 6th grader Aidan Fox from Trinity Meadows Intermediate School with a time of 39.833 seconds, and both from Chisholm Trail Middle School 6th grader Juan Talavera with a time of 41.570 second took 2nd place and 6th grader William Daman with a time of 45.129 seconds took 3rd place.
In the 9-12 Division, 1st place went to: Life High School of Life School in Waxahachie with a time of 11 minutes 13.016 seconds.
The winners of the 9-12 Solo Division are all from Life High School with 10th grader Colton Deal taking 1st place with a time of 1 minute 15.202 seconds, 11th grader Luis Saenz taking 2nd place with a time of 1 minute 21.422 seconds and Wil Hooten an 11th grader taking 3rd place with a time of 1 minute 37.166 seconds.
About Life School
Life Schoolopened as an open-enrollment public charter school in 1998 and has campuses in Oak Cliff, West Dallas, Cedar Hill, Lancaster, Red Oak and Waxahachie. For eight consecutive years, Life School has received the Texas Education Agency’s highest rating in School FIRST (Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas), a financial accountability system for charter schools. Life School’s mission is to train leaders with life skills for the 21st century by establishing strong academics, character training and a parenting program.
About You CAN do the Rubik’s Cube!
The You CAN Do the Rubik's Cube! campaign objective is to not only share the secrets of solving the Rubik's Cube with young people, but to also encourage them to help others to do the same. Program incentives and rewards are available for participants to earn as they mentor and lead others through this challenging yet rewarding process. This campaign is an educational outreach arm of Rubik’s Brand Limited.