Plains students get into the brain game

The students of Plains School didn't spend their final day before Christmas vacation crunching numbers, memorizing historical dates, or learning proper grammar, but they couldn't just flip off their thinking caps either. They had to use those caps for the annual Brain Bash competition.

The 135 junior high and high school students were divided into 14 teams, each named for a Disney movie or character. For more than three hours Friday, the teams moved through 13 stations to test their mental and physical skills, along with their agility proficiency. The stations included such challenges as Scooter Bowling, Play Dough Sculpture, Finish the Lyrics, and the Pong Game, to name a few. Teachers, like Carl Benson, created some of the station material. Benson has set up his shooting gallery called Endangered Species for several years. The idea was to use cork guns to hit legitimate game animals. He tacked up photos of several endangered species in the back. The teams lost points for hitting those animals.

At the end of the three and a half hours of competition, team Toy Story nabbed top honors with 130 points, followed by Wreck It Ralph one point behind. Third place ended in a tie between Hercules and Pocahontas, which led to a shoot-off on the basketball court. Hercules sank three of eight shots from the free-throw line while Pocahontas got only one basket.

A few of the competition stations were designed by students of the Job For Montana's Graduates (JMG) class, the group that conducted the Brain Bash. Students from the National Honor Society also helped with the event. All but two of the teams had a teacher or a staff member on the team, said Nichole Cockrell, who teaches second grade and JMG.

"It was a little rocky at first, but once everybody got comfortable they started enjoying the games," said Cockrell, who dressed up as the character Darla from the animated movie "Finding Nemo." Student team members received additional points if they dressed up as Disney or Christmas characters. Team Moana got four extra points, Toy Story got three bonus points for their apparel.

"This is a nice way to start the break. The kids really get into it," said Plains High School Principal Kevin Meredith, who added seventh and eighth grade to the competition two years ago to get more kids involved and because of the declining high school population.

The maximum number of points a team could get at any station was 10, unless they received bonus points for special feats. At the A Minute to Win It station, which included five different agility tests, anyone who was able to stack three golf balls atop each other received an extra point. The only student to do it was seventh-grader Jade Shank of Toy Story. Andy Cristaldi, a staff member with team Robin Hood, was the only other person to successfully stack the golf balls. Freshman Peter Carey received an extra point when he added a dance routine to the Finish the Lyrics event "It's Raining Men." "It was awesome. I just had to give him the extra point," said Ilanna Chaney, who came up with 40 lyrics for the contest.

Wreck It Ralph received a bonus point when the entire team danced a number in the Just Dance station. "It probably wasn't pretty, but got the points," said Jeff Burrows, a substitute teacher with the team. Holly Blood, a staff member, got an extra point for same team because she was the only one for the day to complete the lyrics to "Go Your Own Way."

The stations weren't the only thing the students had to be concerned about. Daniel Uli and Natalee Deschamps ambushed Brain Bash participants near the music classroom and put them in "jail." Uli used his lassoing skills to nab about 50 students, who had to stay in jail until they either successfully passed a riddle, trivia or hangman test or remained there for a station time change.

Cockrell said the competition went well, however, they might change some of the stations that were too east next year. No team scored less than 10 points at the Disney Jeopardy, Scooter Bowl and Catch Phrase stations. Finish the Movie Quote was one of the toughest, along with the Endangered Species, said Anjel Martinez, a JMG student who kept track of team scores. Agility wise, the A Minute to Win It, which had the golf ball test, was probably the hardest. It included stacking dice on a tongue depressor in their mouth. Another was stacking small steel hardware nuts using a shish kabob stick, which was also positioned in their mouth.

Team members of Toy Story each received a $5 gift certificate from Ripples Ice Cream Parlor. Second place members received a large candy bar and third place each received a small candy bar.