Every year, eight students are chosen based on their academic talents and problem solving skills to represent our school at the annual Brain Games competition. 

Brain Games is a competition that focuses on teamwork and critical thinking, while putting local schools against each other during mental challenges, about a multitude of different subjects. This year’s games were held at John A. Logan College on January 16, 2026 with the theme of “Fantasy Fiction,” an editor at ROE 21 said. 

The eight CHS students chosen were put into two separate groups, a senior team and junior team. On the first team was Tanya Arun, Peter Bae, James Samples, and Maddox Seamen. These four seniors worked together to compete in games that challenged their minds against other schools.

“The most challenging game we had to do was probably when we got handed a ping pong ball and an egg and we were told to either throw up and catch the egg, or bounce the ping pong ball. I really struggled with this challenge and ended up breaking my egg in the third round,” Maddox Seamen said. This was only one of the many games they competed in throughout the day.

This is not the senior team’s first rodeo as these students also participated in this competition last year. “The specific challenges we did at the competition were different from last year but the type of activities were basically the same,” Tanya Arun goes into more detail on the experience, “This year, the creative challenge was to create a fantasy story and characters using sticks, yarn, and other supplies compared to last year’s Olympic-themed fashion show. There were a lot of hands-on activities like last year which required a lot of teamwork and thought. Some of them seemed impossible, but we pulled through. It was really fun and a great opportunity!”

This year the Carterville senior team placed fourth at sectionals, meaning that they advanced to state for another year at a chance to win state. The junior Carterville team including Katya Chyzhyk, Wyatt Belk, Issac Murray, and Megan Harrell won first at sectionals. Following them was Johnston City High School, Benton Consolidated High School, and Zeigler- Royalton High School. These four schools will go head to head against each other at state in April, each team trying their best to win first place.

The Carterville’s Brain Game teams have both proved their worth and are now excited to see what state has for them to solve next.