Whiz Kids of the Week: Middle School World Affairs Club

Whiz Kids of the Week: World Affairs Challenge Club

School: Mill Valley Middle School

Whiz Kids' Accomplishment: Four teams of Mill Valley Middle School students competed in the annual World Affairs Challenge at San Francisco State last weekend and took home a slew of awards in a field that included 300 students from 23 Bay Area schools.

The event is an annual academic competition that asks students to present actionable solutions on specific global issues. This year’s theme was Food: Feeding the World Sustainably in the 21st Century, and the students had to come up with solutions related to the political, economic, environmental and social impacts of food.

The Middle School team took home eight awards, including:

Rising Start Recognition: Josh Khoo-Miller, Holly Parkins, Laura Uzes and Alex Paulinech

Best Solutions Showcase: Hunger Annihalators (first place), Hungry Hungry Hippos (second place)

Best Collaborative Question Group: Kyla Bazlen (first place group), Alex Cabana (third place group)

Most Creative Presentation: Food Fighters (third place)

Best Formal Presentation: Food Fighters (first place), Hunger Annihalators (second place)

Best Overall Team: Food Fighters (first place), Hunger Annihalators (second place), Hungry Hungry Hippos (third place)

Whiz Kid's Key to Awesomeness: The participants faced an uphill challenge as its advisor Judy Gruszynski was quite ill the week before and wasn’t able to attend the competition.

“The kids did an amazing job on Saturday at the World Affairs Challenge competition at SFSU,” said assistant principal Anna Lazarini. “It was so rewarding to watch them in action.”