Colonial School District: Two Odyssey Of The Mind Teams At CMS Advance To The 2021 World Finals

Press release from the Colonial School District:

2021-04-23

Two Colonial Middle School (CMS) Odyssey of the Mind teams brought home first place honors at the state competition and will be moving on to the 2021 World Finals.

The team of sixth graders set their Long Term Problem skit in an office supply store. This still is from their regional entry.

"A lot of new teams never actually make it past regionals, and the fact that we made it to Worlds is exciting," said CMS sixth grader Sydney Saulino, whose team consists of only first-year participants. "We made new friends and have this big bond. We got to see our work pay off. We all came together, we all came creative, and we just made something that was awesome."

The competition has two parts, the Long Term Problem where the students create an eight-minute skit, and Spontaneous that challenges the students to think creatively quickly. With this year's events being virtual, the students submit their skits and have a timed form to complete for Spontaneous. They compete with the other teams that chose the same Long Term Problem.

The sixth grade team of Hollis Becker, Sydney Saulino, Harry Schreiter, Jinay Sheth, Jillian Sinese, Kaili Stauffer, and Zoe Walinsky took first place for the Long Term Problem "Superhero Socks: A Cliffhanger Beginning" and second place in Spontaneous.

The eighth grade team of Aine McAleese, Ryan Bass, Ellen Fang, Emma Hoffman, Naomi Hoffman, Natalie Lieberman, and Sachita Upadhya brought home first place in the "OMer and The Beanstalk" Long Term Problem and also scored first in Spontaneous.

In addition to thinking creatively and working on problem-solving skills, Odyssey of the Mind also helps students learn how to work together effectively.

"What made us successful is that we didn't really quarrel or argue that much against each other. We had a really good relationship with each other and could coordinate easily," said sixth grader Jinay Sheth. "It's not all about the competition and trying to get first. You learn so much from the process and make new friends."

The two teams have to complete the Spontaneous portion of the challenge and submit the videos of their skits for the Long Term Problem by April 30. The winners of the 2021 World Finals will be announced some time in May.

This press release was produced by the Colonial School District .The views expressed here are the author’s own.