It was the Blue Braniacs against the The Brown Brains against the Burlington Brains and more when more than 120 fourth-grade students from nine school districts throughout Burlington County put on their thinking caps and participated in the annual Brain Drain Games at Cinnaminson Memorial School on April 30.
Hosted by the Western Burlington County Regional Consortium, an association of educators that teaches gifted and talented students throughout nine Burlington County schools, the Brain Drain Games gave students the chance to test their knowledge through a series of thought provoking puzzles and games.
This year students from Cinnaminson, Delran, Mt. Laurel, Moorestown, Pennsauken, Maple Shade, Riverton, Hainesport and Palmyra competed.
With only one or two students from the same town on any given team, the students grew not only their minds but their teamwork, communication and friendship-making skills as well.
The activities involved puzzles such as using the process of elimination to pick a suspected criminal out of a line of photos with only vague witness descriptions, using straws and straw wrappers to construct a bridge between two chairs that could support the heaviest weight, and even getting every student on a team to walk through a giant spider web without touching the web or using the same opening more than once.
Students moved from room to room to participate in each activity. Presenters graded the teams on how well they accomplished their given task, and chaperones asked the students questions about how they might have worked better together or what they might do differently at the next activity.
Elaine Mendelow, a retired Cinnaminson teacher and special activities coordinator for the district, said the games were meant to promote skills beyond basic learning that would help the kids once they were older and in situations that take place outside school.
“It takes a lot of teamwork and problem solving,” Mendelow said.” That’s what we’re really looking for now in education. Not just great memory, and not just regurgitating information and facts, but getting people to work in harmony and form cooperative groups.”
With the teams composed of kids from different schools, Mendelow said the kids gained the skills to quickly work with new and different people to accomplish a mutual goal.
“That’s what business is all about as well, working, communicating, listening to other kids’ ideas,” Mendelow said. “Those are the people they’re finding the most successful in the business world because they know how to negotiate with other people and they know how to make eye contact — all of those kinds of skills that are so important here.”
Cinnaminson School District Superintendent Salvatore Illuzzi was also at the event to watch the students compete. He said Cinnaminson was proud to host the annual event.
“We’re very proud to host it obviously,” Illuzzi said. “It’s something that makes a good place just a little bit more special.”
Illuzzi also said the district was lucky to have someone such as Mendelow, and the representatives from the other districts have always complimented Mendelow for the work she does.
“In each of the programs she does for us, there’s the motivation of making the children more aware of community and its resources and working together for good,” Illuzzi said. “I think in many ways that’s a very fortunate thing for our school district.”
One visitor from outside Cinnaminson was chaperone and parent Robin Eder of Delran. She was at the event with her daughter and said it was great for kids because it was exciting and challenging, and her daughter and the other kids had been looking forward to it for months.
“I think it’s great,” Eder said. “I’d never heard of it before, but every year they get to do it and all the kids come together, meeting new kids and seeing how they work together. It gives them confidence to be able to work with other kids who are not their friends, so they can walk into any situation.”
