Brain games challenge Plains students

The students of Plains High School and Junior High got to spend their last official school day of 2018 playing games and competing on teams in the annual Brain Bash competition. There was a total of 15 teams that were drawn at random and all named after different Christmas movies. Each team traveled around to 16 different stations where they tested their skills at the different holiday themed games the faculty had designed. Ten minutes was spent at each station and Christmas music was played over the intercom system to signal a station switch.

There was a possible 10 points up for grabs at each station and this year the difficulty increased, with the aim to really challenge the students while also having a lot of fun. High school science teacher, Carl Benson, set up his Shooting Gallery game that he has done in years past. Students got to shoot at animal targets with corks from pop guns and it was one of the overall favorites with the students.

A modified golf game was set up in Mike Tatum's classroom where students would draw popsicle sticks that determined which object they would use to hit the golf ball and which hole they would aim for. There was everything from an actual golf club, tubing insulator, or even a hockey stick. The different holes were constructed out of tunnels and tubing, including a tunnel that was glow in the dark and the lights were turned off if that hole was drawn.

The competition ran all morning with a break for lunch and then students were dismissed at 1 p.m. At the end of the competition there was a tie for first with 122 points. After the tie breaking decision, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" took first place, winning $5 gift certificates to Ripples Ice Cream, and "Santa Claus is coming to Town" took second place, winning king -sized Hershey's chocolate bars. Third place went to Elf, with 115 points, and they took home regular size candy bars.

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. Nichole Cockrell, who teaches Home Economics and JMG, said that she remembers "having a lot of fun playing the games as a senior in high school 20 years ago." The teams are drawn at random and Cockrell also commented that "it gives students the opportunity to hang out with other students that are not necessarily in their friend group or different classes." Quite a few students were out sick but there was still a good turnout for the games.