Nearly 600 students from 90 teams from across the Capital District came together Saturday, Feb. 28, to participate in the Capital Region BOCES Odyssey of the Mind Tournament held on the Mohonasen Central School District’s campus in Rotterdam. The daylong competition challenged young people to come up with the most creative, original and imaginative solutions to open-ended problems. Among the participating school districts were Mohonasen and Schalmont central school districts.
A strong showing by Scotia Glenville students means the district will be sending three groups of students to the state competition at Binghamton University. Mohonasen Central School District is sending one team.
Odyssey of the Mind is a competition where teams of five to seven children in similar age groups work together to solve a long-term problem, said Mindi Iannotti, Capital Region BOCES Program Manager for Special Student Services. `They do all kinds of things creatively and collaboratively to work together to solve the problem.`
Students incorporate their own skills and interests into the solutions ` interests that include singing, playing instruments, skating or gymnastics ` anything that will help the students solve one of five problems.
The first problem was called Earth Trek, where teams had to design and build a small vehicle that could transform its appearance four times as it travels around the world.
Another example of a problem teams could solve was called the Lost Labor of Heracles, where Ancient Greece was revived in a performance depicting Heracles’ 12 labors and a `lost labor` that is created by the team. In Shockwaves, teams designed a balsa wood structure that weighed no more than 15 paper clips and supported weights. These lightweight structures are known to hold over 1,000 pounds. The structure also had to be able to absorb and withstand `shockwaves` from falling weights.
Iannotti said that these aren’t necessarily `problems` one thinks of as an adult, where a clear solution is needed ` sometimes the solutions to these problems are coming up with a clear way to express something or how to relay a story.
`Each team has a coach, but the coach is really just there to set up the times for the kids to meet and provide a space for the kids to meet and just to give them some general guidelines to get them started,` said Iannotti.
Students from grades kindergarten through 12 participate in the competition, and everyone answers the same questions. Teams are split up into grade groups of five to seven students. Participants are divided into divisions according to grade. They compete against groups in their own division in front of a panel of volunteer judges. Winners go onto the New York State competition held at Binghamton University, and from there possibly the World Finals held at Iowa State University.
`I think the whole process is great to watch the children develop their responses, their team building skills, and their questioning skills,` said Suzanne Meeker, an Odyssey of the Mind coach from the Scotia Glenville Central School District.
Meeker said she thinks the competition is also nice because students get a sense that the world is `bigger than themselves.`
`It’s one little thing to solve problems in Scotia Glenville, but once they go to regional competitions and see that kids are answering questions in such a different way, I think it helps the kids to understand the world is larger than they think it is and we can help and make an impact on it,` said Meeker.
Iannotti also added that teams have spent months of their free time solving these problems as well as developing friendships, teamwork skills, independent study and confidence ` `all the skills that are so relevant in 21st century education today.`
Teams also learn how to budget money since there is a cost limit to each problem. This means you will see students getting creative with costumes, props, dances, gymnastics, instruments and more.
For more information on the program, to volunteer or get your school involved, visit www.odysseyofthemind.com.“