Inspired by Teacher, Teen Aims for Rubik's Cube Crown

Alex Davani is an Aliso Viejo Eagle Scout and mostly an A-student, but he struggled with math last year.

To pick up extra credit in his eighth-grade algebra class at Don Juan Avila Middle School, Davani learned to solve the Rubik's Cube.

Davani wasn't the only one. Teacher Ron McDevitt gives all his students a shot at extra credit if they can beat the cube, and he adds more points for faster times.

A Rubik's Cube, he explains, is a lot like math. It teaches memorization, patience and forces you to go slowly.

"At math, it's the same way," McDevitt said. "You make one bad move with the cube and you're bumming. You have to go back (a step) or start over."

For Davani, solving the cube—or "cubing" as fans call it—became an obsession.

With about six months of practice, he could consistently solve the Rubik's Cube in under 30 seconds. So Davani decided to enter the world championship in Las Vegas, held July 26-28.

Alex placed in the middle of the field out of roughly 800 competitors, and with more practice hopes to raise his ranking next year. He also got to meet cubers from 37 countries, and had lunch with four of the finalists.

Watch Alex solve the cube in the video above.

So how does he solve the cube so quickly?

"It's mostly just practice," he said. "Muscle memory is another huge thing. You memorize the algorithms and you don't even have to think about it. Your fingers memorize how to move."

Alex met up with his algebra teacher this week. When they got together, Mr. McDevitt had one rule: no competing.

"I teach my kids how to solve it and they just blow me away," said the teacher whose own average time is around two minutes. "I've never had a student take it as far as Alex and compete. That's pretty cool."