Success at Tournament of Minds regional event

This year we had eight Tournament of Minds teams compete at the Regional Finals at La Trobe University in Bendigo – four Primary teams and four Secondary teams. There are seven students in each team. When the problem was released, the teams had six weeks to come up with ideas, characters and costumes, all while having a great time along the way.

The challenges involve creating a solution to a complex problem and presenting that solution in the form of a fully prepared 10-minute skit to a panel of judges. The performances are always entertaining and lots of fun!

The teams also had to answer a separate, spontaneous question that was posed on the day. This year’s spontaneous problem was:

The Latin phrase 'omne trium perfectum' means 'the perfect three' and indicates that anything in three is perfect. Examples of perfect threes include Harry, Hermione and Ron from Harry Potter and a spoon, fork and knife. Your team must take an original duo and add an unexpected third member. You must explain why this third member was added and what its effects were on the world. 

Our answer was that the original duo was Bananas in Pyjamas and the third unexpected member was a dragon fruit. It was added to teach children diversity and multiculturalism. Its effect on the world was that people stopped watching Bananas in Pyjamas because it was not iconic anymore.

They were allowed four minutes to discuss the problem and one minute to present their most creative responses.

It was a wonderful day at La Trobe in Bendigo and we were lucky enough to have a lot of family and friends there supporting us.

I would like to give a massive thank you to the staff involved in TOM this year: Mr Ruddick, Mr Parry, Mrs Tobias, Dr Mazlunka, Mrs Milner, Mrs Bath, Rachel Potter, Aaron Job, Greta Burns and Zoe MacGregor. Without them it would not have been possible to organise all the teams and rehearsals. The students are forever grateful for their support. We would also like to thank Augustine Leung and Leilani Babitu who supported the judges on the day.

The six teams will now begin the difficult task of preparing for the Tournament of Minds State Finals in Melbourne on Sunday 10 September. We wish them all good luck.

Greta Burns

TOM Captain 2023

(11 Aherne)

Highlights from the Tournament of Minds Regional Finals at La Trobe University, Bendigo

Highlights from rehearsals in the Junior School Library