A GROUP of St Catherine's Catholic College students have contested the Opti-minds regional finals late last month.

Opti-minds, a competition that promotes problem solving, sustainable thinking and creativity, includes a long-term challenge and a spontaneous challenge.

For the long-term challenge, students were given six weeks to come up with a solution to a problem. They were then asked to write a script, create props and costumes, before performing a 10-minute play depicting their solution.

The spontaneous challenge is a problem issued on the day, August 24, whereby students were given 10-minutes to conjure a creative response.

Year 8 and 9 students from the catholic college contested two divisions of the competition; the Science Engineering and Language Literature sections.

The team of Katya Bandow, Eamon Beatts, Liam Stephens, Nicholas Truett and Nicholas Sainsbury won the science division, gaining a berth in the State Championships to be held in Brisbane.

The language team also performed admirably, consisting of students Sahara Taylor Crane, Ruby Murdoch, Gail Urbano, Angel Camp, Chloe Robertson and Breeanna Purvis.

The science team is looking for sponsorship and/or donations to fund the trip to Brisbane for the State Championships.

For more information contact Tanya Pernase at tpernase@prspne.catholic.edu.au.