Local Youth Prepare for an Odyssey of the Mind

On Saturday, March 26, seven teams from Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall will compete in the annual Odyssey of the Mind competition. This contest will take place at Eastern High school in Bristol, Connecticut. Each team is sponsored by a local organization.

Odyssey of the Mind is not just a local challenge, it goes on worldwide. The winners from each state and other countries meet up to compete against each other to win the world title for each of 5 problems.

There are three divisions that are split up by age. Division 1 is 3^rd - 5^th grade, Division 2 is 6^th - 8^th grade and Division 3 is High School. In our towns we have three teams in Division 1 and four teams in Division 2.

The teams have been working hard for many months, constantly meeting with their teammates during the week. Each team picks a long term problem. These tests of creativity are chosen by the team members and are the main focus. The problems vary from year to year.

The tasks to choose from this year are “Extreme Mousemobiles," “As Good as Gold...berg," “Le Tour Guide," “Unhinged Structure," “Full Circle” and “Money Maker”. Even though the problems differ every year they usually consist of a building project, plays and machine creation. You can find descriptions of this year’s problems on the Odyssey of the Mind website.

On competition day teams from all over the state will prepare to give their solution to the long term problem. Teams have been working in secret, making sure no one else steals their ideas. But on competition day the teams will show all their cards in front of an audience and closely watching judges.

In addition to the long term problem, each team will face a small brain testing activity that will score them on their teamwork and ability to think spontaneously. Not surprisingly this challenge is called “Spontaneous.” This, unlike the long term problem, is done in a quiet room with just your teammates and is a surprise. What the teams have worked on for months will come down to their 8 minute performance. Things will break and things will fall, but the experience is what really matters.

This year’s local teams:

Division I – 3-5^th grade

United Youth Fellowship #32995

Coach: Anne Doyle - Le Tour Guide – 9:20 a.m.

Team members: Mazie Barrett, Olivia Pereira, Samantha Pietrzyk, Zack Mariani, Seamus Doyle, Stefan Marczuk, Jason Datillo

John Lyman School #6424

Coach: Maureen Morris - Good as Gold...berg – 11:34 a.m.

Team members: Bridey Morris, MacGuire O'Sullivan, Hannah Huddleston, Ryan Hocking, Charlotte Meigs, Kaitlin Gossart and Bailey, Zettergren

Memorial School #18112

Coaches: Danielle Kleczkowski & Paul Schaefer - Amazing Mouse Mobiles – 9:20 a.m.

Team members: Garret Basiel, Joshua Fazzino, William Glidden, AJ Kleczkowski, Connor Schaefer, Otto Wallach

Division II – 6-8^th grade 

Memorial School  #18112

Coaches: Greg Borbas & Ellen McDonald - Good as Gold...berg – 7:30 a.m. 

Team members: Abby Blair, Emma Blair, Kyle Borbas, Isabelle DeFlippo, Tommy Koba, Nathan McDonald

Strong School #20708

Coach: Bill Morris - Good as Gold...berg – 8:06 a.m. 

Team members: Tim Morris, Ryan Gossart, Jacob Burt, Nathaniel Weir, Joseph Ertle, Patrick McCann and Alec Marczuk

United Youth Fellowship #32995

Coaches: Ana Maria O’Keefe & Pam Wooding – Le Tour Guide – 11:10 a.m. 

Team Members: Ben Wooding, Michael, O’Keefe, Isabella O'Keefe, Patrick Holden, Kia Boreland, Samara Chapman and Sadie Leiler

Strong School #40040

Coaches: Mary Jo Brigante & Wendy Marran - Le Tour Guide 8:40 a.m.

Team members: Sarah Collins, Abigail Marran, Caitlin Sibiske, Lilian Zhou, Brianna VanEyndoven, Olivia Marran, Gillian Murphy