Gaston High School student can complete Rubik's Cubes faster than anyone in state

Gaston student excels at Rubik's Cubes, spreads passion to rest of school

Most of the time when teachers have to confiscate an item from their seventh-grade students, it's a cell phone.

But in Gaston Junior/Senior High School, it's Rubik's Cubes. In fact, two or three cubes are taken away each period.

That's because at one point this school year, nearly half of Gaston's seventh-graders were carrying around the 3-D combination puzzles in their pockets, trying their best to solve them at every opportunity, even during class.

The craze can be partly attributed to Quinn Harter, who sold a small shipment of cheap Rubik's Cubes he found online to his classmates and taught them how to solve the puzzles.

It all started about six months ago, when Quinn bought a Rubik's Cube for a friend. In the week before he actually gave away the gift, Quinn started playing around with it. His dad taught him how to solve one side — bringing the same color squares to one whole side of the cube — and soon he was hooked. He was looking up video tutorials and searching for puzzle tips, trying to solve new cubes and gain speed.

Then last fall, in the band room, Quinn saw him: Ben Gottschalk, a sophomore at Gaston High School and a nationally ranked Rubik's Cube competitor. (Yes, there are national — and international — Rubik's Cube competitions.)

Ben is ranked first in the state in solving two different cube types, the Square 1 and the Pyraminx. He can solve the Pyraminx — a pyramid-shaped cube — in as little as three seconds. He can solve others — like a classic cube — in around 12 seconds. (See fgnewstimes.com for a video).

"His hands were a blur," Quinn said of that first day, when he saw Ben solve a cube.

Ben has been practicing solving Rubik's Cubes ever since he picked up one that was lying around his house a few years ago.

About a year ago, he started competing. This year, he'll travel to Paris for the world Rubik's Cube championship in July, which he didn't have to qualify for but decided it would be fun after his success in U.S. competitions. "I think it'll be a really cool experience," Ben said.

He has taken the basic knowledge he learned from solving simpler cubes and applied them to more complex ones such as eight-sided cubes or cubes in the shape of crosses or triangles. There are even cubes that shift shapes as they turn.

"I've been amazed at the variety of the cubes they bring in, many of them being asymmetrical, as if it isn't hard enough to solve them in the first place," said Gaston Junior/Senior High School teacher Joe Matteson.

Ben owns 80 cubes in all, most of which are high-quality models he takes apart once a month to oil and lubricate.

His school backpack is filled with them — mostly speed cubes, which are used in competition and move faster than the traditional harder-to-turn Rubik's Cubes.

A notebook full of algorithms — step-by-step guides to solving different cubes most efficiently — serves as the base for Ben's practice as he keeps a page for nearly every cube and memorizes the possible moves.

Ben, who would like to be a computer engineer someday, doesn't have a cube trainer but instead perfects his skills by diligent practice, regular Internet research and talking with other top competitors he's befriended.

Ben has made close friends in cubing competitions in Oregon and Washington, where he's met numerous other young people who are just as passionate about the hobby. "You compete against other people but you also compete against yourself," he said. "One slight pause or stop of movement can change your time — all of the seconds count."

Quinn said Ben is a willing and patient teacher who has taught him a lot. The pair, who've both always enjoyed math and memorizing, have gotten to know each other pretty well over Rubik's Cube discussions. Before the cubes, they had only seen each other in band practice, where Ben plays trumpet and Quinn plays drums, but they never talked much.

"Whenever I see him, he's always practicing his cubes," Quinn said of Ben.

Ben practices about four hours a day — on the school bus, during class breaks, at home.

When Ben's mom, Laurie Gottschalk, thinks her son is doing homework, she'll poke her head around the corner and hear the familiar fast clicking of his cubes.

Quinn's mom, Sheila Harter, has had similar problems.

"We have Rubik's Cubes everywhere — in the car, in the kitchen, in the bathroom," she said.

Sheila and her husband have had to force Quinn to put away his cubes to eat, do chores, get dressed and go to bed.

But she's not complaining. "I'm just glad when he's not using screens, batteries or Wi-Fi and he's using his brain," Sheila said.

Before, when Sheila told Quinn to turn off the video games she would hear complaining. But now he's more than happy to switch to practicing his cubes.

"I like the mental challenge," said Quinn, who also enjoys soccer, riding a unicycle and juggling.

Now Quinn can solve a traditional cube in less than a minute and plans to attend his first competition this year in Oregon, if only just to watch and check it out.

"It's fun to teach someone what you know, " Ben said. "And it's fun to learn things from other people."



By Stephanie Haugen

Reporter, Forest Grove News-Times

503-357-3181

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