Coventry students sweep Junior Division Awards and will compete at International conference in June for the Future Problem Solvers Program.

On March 28th 2015, the Captain Nathan Hale Middle School (CNHMS) Challenge and Enrichment Students from Coventry, Connecticut, competed in the 32nd annual Future Problem Solving Program (FPSP commonly referred to as FPS) State Championship for Connecticut in North Haven. The FPS, which “teaches kids how to think, not what to think” is a not- for- profit program aimed at teaching Connecticut’s students critical thinking and problem solving skills. For more information on the state competition results and the program, see http://www.fpspofct.org/state-conference-awards-2015/

The students have worked incredibly hard all year on learning how to solve complex, futuristic societal problems through a six step “future problem solving” process. The outcome of their hard work was that 5 teams qualified, 7 teams attended the state competition including all four 6th grade teams, two 7th grade and one 8th grade team, totaling 36 students representing Coventry at the competition.

The results were better than we could have imagined! CNHMS swept the top four places for the Junior Division, out of 22 schools that competed - dominating their category and leading the final total of 28 of our students placing for an award of some type.

This remarkable success has earned our first and second place teams a bid to compete in the Global Issues Problem Solving competition at the Future Problem Solvers International Conference this June in Ames, Iowa at the University of Iowa, where they will compete with students from around the world.

The students have worked incredibly hard all year to get to this level, and they have much work still ahead of them in preparing for this next and final competition.

They will be representing the State of Connecticut and Coventry Public Schools as they compete against students from around the globe. Last year, over 2000 students competed from 11 countries. This is a rare and incredibly valuable opportunity for our kids who have worked incredibly hard.

If you would like to support these twelve amazing students, donations can be made to the Captain Nathan Hale Middle School ( or CNHMS) Activity Fund/FPS2015. Captain Nathan Hale Middle School, 1776 Main St. Coventry, CT 06238. Donations can also be made by visiting gofund.me/CoventryFPS

For more information on te Future Problem Solving Program International, see :http://www.fpspi.org/index.html