The all too common ‘Rubik’s Cube,’ can be rearranged in 43 quintillion different ways (yes, 43,000,000,000,000,000,000), and Sophomore Trevor (TJ) Sheibal can solve the cube- in any arrangement- in less than a minute.

“The first time I saw somebody solve a cube was when a Jehovah’s Witness came to my house,” Sheibal said. “He explained something to me about a religious icon figuring stuff out. I thought it was really cool and I wanted to learn how to solve it myself.”

One eighth of the world’s population has laid their hands on a Rubik’s Cube, making it the most popular puzzle in history. There are over 20 different versions of the cube, although the original nine-layer cube is the most common. Sheibal has studied the countless algorithms in order to solve the cube.

“I wrote down all of the algorithms, started memorizing them, and eventually worked up to knowing how to solve them,” Sheibal said. “I usually solve with what’s called ‘Beginners Method’ because it’s the first one I memorized.”

There are two popular methods; the Beginners Method, which is the slower way to solve a cube, and the F2L OLL PLL Method, a faster and more difficult way. The complex process of learning to solve a Rubik’s Cube is one that took Sheibal only a few months to learn.

“Once you learn the basic Rubik’s Cube you can pretty much teach yourself how to solve any of them,” Sheibal said.

Being a hands-on learner has taught Sheibal that the most efficient way to absorb information is while solving the nine layer cube while learning.

“I tend to learn better when I have things in my hands,” Sheibal said. “It helps me learn throughout my other classes because I can play with it and think about the information at the same time.”

Sheibal hopes to reach out to other students at Westside that share a love for problem solving and puzzles.

“It would be really cool to have a club for solving puzzles,” Sheibal said. “It’s a really intuitive hobby that I would love to share with others here at Westside.”