Can you conquer 'the Cube?' Henrico students put their skills to the test during lively competition

On this day, fifth-grader Manny was confronting his fears – something he'd even had nightmares about in the past week. Today was the day that Manny had to face off against a fearsome foe, known colloquially to him and his teammates as “the Cube.”

Each year, Henrico Schools’ Rubik’s Cube Tournament brings out all of the nerves and jitters and excitement from the many elementary- and middle-schoolers who compete to solve the cube in the shortest amount of time they can. Some have spent months – some even years – trying to master the seemingly impossible-to-solve cube. 

“You can never truly master the cube,” said fifth-grader Carlin, a teammate of Manny’s on the Three Chopt Elementary School team.

“Just having the cube and knowing that you could one day solve it, it strives you to want to do it,” said Manny, who thinks it took him almost seven years to fully master the cube.

Students were faced with a challenge this year – beating last year’s best individual cube-solving time of 11.3 seconds. 

And yet, for Burkley, a middle-schooler at George H. Moody Middle School who beat that time by solving the cube in just 10.897 seconds, it seemed almost like a breeze. He nodded nonchalantly and gave a small smile to his teammates after setting the impressive record.

Large, lively crowds of students and parents filled the gym of Hermitage High School for Monday’s tournament, which brought many elementary and middle schools from across Henrico.

“My ears were ringing and my heart was beating fast!” said Glen Lea Elementary fifth-grader Destiny.

But despite the giddiness and hype of competition day, getting to that point requires a lot of discipline and practice beforehand, Destiny said.

“We had practice in the morning and the afternoon, and before we got on the bus we started practicing,” she said “We learn step by step how to solve the cube, and then we just put the steps together.”

Not only does solving the cube require math concepts of sequences and equations, it also requires a lot of patience, said James Frierson, who leads the Glen Lea Rubik’s Cube team. Students have to master each step of the process in order to master solving the cube. 

“It’s more repetition than anything else,” said Frierson. “The focusing can be hard, especially with how young they are. And after a certain amount of time they’re ready to move on, but you can’t move on to that next step if you haven’t completed the first step. So that’s one of the challenges.”

Some fourth- and fifth-graders on Frierson’s team needed only a week to solve the cube. But for some, it took much longer and could be a frustratingly slow process. 

“I’ve seen frustration to a point where 'I’m ready to quit, frustration to where I’m ready to cry,'” he said. “But most of them, they persevere and they realize that, hey, it’s not as hard as they think it is, if you just commit yourself. You’ve got to take out the noise and be able to just focus.”

When Carlin got too stressed out by the cube, taking a quick nap helped calm him down, he said.

“When I was a child and I couldn’t really solve it, naps for some reason, they helped me a lot,” he said. “So I just took a nap every time it got bad.”

In addition to the individual competition, students also face off in a team challenge, with eight students from each school working to solve 25 Rubik’s Cubes together as fast as they can. This year, Moody Middle School took first place in the middle school team competition with a time of less than 2 minutes. Shady Grove Elementary took first place in the elementary team challenge with a time of only 2 minutes and 9.3 seconds.

During the team challenge, students have to rely on each other. When one student is having a hard time with a certain cube, they can pass it to another teammate who may be able to solve it faster.

“We all try to solve it as much as we can and when we’re down to like the last few cubes, if somebody’s finishing and there’s no other cubes to solve, we ask them, ‘Take a cube,’ and they take it from the person who isn’t as fast, because that person is a little faster,” said Manny.

While at times, the cube can be frustrating, the frustration could never outdo the feeling of satisfaction at the end of a solve, said Three Chopt Elementary fifth-grader Evie.

“The best part is just at the end of solving it, because it’s just such a good feeling to have it done,” she said. “It’s definitely learning how to persevere. Even if you have a solve that’s not the best, how to like pick up another cube and solve another one better.”

No matter how long it takes you – or even if you never conquer the cube – any student is welcome to join a team and learn some valuable math and life skills while seeking a challenge, said Frierson.

“Come on out, no matter how good or bad you do,” he said. “As long as you want to come out and you’re dedicated to learning, we applaud that over anything.”

Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.