Mind-Blowing Competitors

Name:  Odyssey of the Mind Competitors

School: Roton Middle School

Achievement:

After almost a year’s worth of hard work and preparation, four teams from Roton Middle School took their show on the road on Saturday and attended the Connecticut Odyssey of the Mind competition in Bristol. Two of these teams earned a place in the World Finals.

Just what is Odyssey of the Mind? The short answer is that it's a team problem-solving competition.

Essentially, teams select from a list of pre-determined challenges. After months of brainstorming and preparation, teams gather for a competition where they perform skits that meet each of the criteria of the challenge they selected. They are then judged on these performances, and a winner is selected.

According to participant Tom Skipper, Odyssey of the Mind “unleashes creativity and harnesses the power of your mind.” Tom’s team of eighth graders effectively unleashed its power, winning first place for their performance.

This winning team presented a response to the challenge called "Extreme Mouse Mobiles," which required them to create a vehicle that would operate using only mousetraps as its energy source. They then needed to showcase their mouse mobile by allowing it to travel a course riddled with different challenges, such as raising a flag and operating a Jack-in-the-box. All of this had to be done in a creative way, with a theme, and in 8 minutes.

Another winning team took second place for their ocean-themed "Full Circle" presentation, during which the characters used puns such as a “Fishbook” for “Facebook” and “Shell phone” for “Cell phone” to infuse presentations with humor.

Other skits included "Le Tour Guide," which carried the message “Stop burning fossil fuels, plant more trees, or global warming will ruin your life.” Another was "As Good as Gold…berg," where team members marketed their door knob replacement.

While all of Roton’s teams gave impressive performances, the teams that presented Extreme Mouse Mobiles and Full Circle are headed to the World Finals, which will take place May 27 through May 30 in Maryland.

Key to Awesomeness:

In a word: teamwork. “We have a really special group assembled,” said competitor Connor O'Brien, whose team won first place. He went on to explain how each team member brought unique strengths to the competition. Some focused on the mechanical aspect, while others spent more time designing the backdrop and props or writing the script. 

Team Members:

Extreme Mouse Mobiles:  Matt Allen, Sally Aubrey, Finn Maloney, Conner O’Brien, Megan Root, Tom Skipper

Full Circle: Olivia Fassett, Cate Herbert, Alex Lemmer, Derek Lue, Keara Meyerson, Griffin Root, Maddy Vineyard 

As Good as Gold…berg: Annie Artell, Jordan Good, Andrew Herbert, Tom Howells, Alexis Rosa, Abigail Sanchez, Astrid Stephenson

Le Tour Guide: Emma Curtain, Jack Feinstein, Katie Gatt,  Hannah Towey, Isabel Vineyard