Four Oakdale Elementary Students Participate in the Future Problem Solving Program

Four Oakdale Elementary fourth-grade students participated in the Future Problem Solving Program state bowl held on Saturday, Mar. 23, at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay.

FPS is an international program with an affiliate in Massachusetts. The competitive, academic program aims to engage students in working through a problem-solving process using creative and critical thinking skills collaboratively in teams of four.

Teams are presented with a futuristic scenario, and they must work to identify key challenges, pose possible solutions, and develop a plan of action to address a major problem of the future. The team joined twenty-four teams from across the state in grades 4-12 to address the problem of ocean pollution.

The Oakdale FPS team members are Macy Gorman, Bryan McDonough, Ryan Roberts, and John Wilkinson.

The team was established this past fall as one of thirty-six Junior Division teams (grades 4-6) in Massachusetts. Their performance on the qualifying problem this winter earned them the distinction of being one of nine teams in the Junior Division invited to the bowl. 

Their coach is Monika Wilkinson, an Oakdale parent who began coaching in the program in 1995 as a teacher. She hopes to expand the program in Dedham next year.