REBECCA CARRUSCO

PHOTO: Five FINALISTS in the National Future Problem-Solving Program are front, Sarah Pousson, Ashley McClung and Jessica Lambert, and top, Amy Duhon and Anne Marie Clemente. LUTCHER – Now that a private citizen has bought himself a trip into space, can space tourism be far behind? A group of five gifted students from Lutcher High School will be traveling to Atlanta, Ga., this week, June 7-10, to solve such problems of the future. The group, under the direction of Dr. Judy Petit, will attend the International finals of the National Future Problem-Solving Program with this year’s theme being “Global Interdependence.” St. James Parish’s school board and parish council, IMC-Agrico, and student contributions are sponsoring the trip and the fees for the competition. More than 250,000 students from 50 states, five Canadian provinces, and 14 foreign nations, will be meeting to consider a selection of problems facing the world. This year’s topics include tourism, population and water. According to Petit, students are given a year to methodically go through a six-step process in order to brainstorm ideas so that they can discover what underlying problems exits for each topic and provide a working solution for each. Their proposals are sent to an evaluation committee at the University of Michigan, in Ann Harbor, Michigan. Those selected to go to the finals give a seven-minute, non-verbal presentation using a specified number of every day household props. They must communicate a solution to a problem that they are unaware of until their presentation. Five winners selected at the finals receive recognition as the world’s best and brightest students. The National Future Problem-Solving Program was originally developed by Dr. E. Paul Torrance at the University of Georgia in the 1070’s. This program was develop to encourage young people to think seriously about the future of globalism and its challenges. St. James Parish School Board and Lutcher High School became involved in the program in 1984. “Since then,” said Petit, “we have been to the international finals nine times.” Lutcher High School won the Alternate Division at the International in 1992.