Sixth, seventh and eighth grade students competed in a creative design challenge at the end of the first grading quarter. Each class had a panel of judges that wrote their own criteria for what the winning designs must include. The judges did not reveal this criteria to the design groups until half way through the design process. This caused each group to have to evaluate their progress and revise their work in order to rise to the expectations of the panel of judges. This surprise twist in the process teaches students how to adapt and how to work together to meet their goals. What about those judges? Their task was to design the reward, trophy, or certificate that would be given to the winning group that best meets the design criteria. Students had to race against the clock to refine their work as their time in art class came to a close.