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Shue-Medill Middle School Odyssey of the Mind Team Advances from Regional to State to National Competitions
Shue-Medill Middle School Odyssey of the Mind Team

The Shue-Medill Middle School's Odyssey of the Mind team won 2nd place at the River Region Odyssey of the Mind competition on March 3, out of a field of 14 teams from both private and public schools. The regional event serves as a qualifier for the State Competition, with the top teams from each event advancing to compete with teams from around the state. Other schools in the Christina School District that had teams represented at the Regional competition included Maclary Elementary School, West Park Place Elementary School, and Gauger-Cobbs Middle School. Sheu-Medill was the only team to advance to the State Competition.

 

For more than four months, the Shue-Medill Middle School team has worked to create an original performance (including script, scenery, props, costumes, etc.) which was judged on creativity and effectiveness of incorporating required components. One of the team members, Zachery The', was awarded the Ranatra Fusca Award at the regional event, the highest award for the competition, in recognition for his creativity in designing articulated angel wings that unfurl from a backpack. The team qualified to compete at the 2012 Odyssey of the Mind State Final, which was held on March 31st at John Dickinson High School. Team members include: Hayley Coleman, 6th grade; Maggie Doggett, 7th grade; Danielle Dorsey, 6th grade; Cloe McClure, 6th grade; Madison Owen, 6th grade; Justin Taylor, 6th grade, Zachary The', 6th grade.

 

The team tied for Second at the State competition on March 31 in the Division II (middle school) Problem 5 (Odyssey's Angels) group. The score is based on three criteria (1) the team's solution/performance to the long-term problem, (2) the team's style, and (3) a spontaneous problem solving event. The team received the maximum number of points in "style" for the event.Shue-Medill Middle School Odyssey of the Mind

 

The Shue-Medill team has now qualified to participate in the World Final Odyssey of the Mind competition, to be held in Ames, Iowa, on May 22-27. The team also had an opportunity to have their photo taken with Delaware Governor Jack Markell (back row, center) and Dr. Samuel Micklus (back row, second from left), founder of Odyssey of the Mind. Also pictured are OM Coach Jennifer The' (back row, left), and OM Assistant Coach Karla Coleman (back row, far right). Congratulations to this outstanding creative team for all its hard work and effort to make it to the national level of competition.

Information Night

When?                  Wednesday, October 19th

Time?                   7 – 8pm

Where?                Shue-Medill Middle School library

Who?                   Students interested in participating & their parents

Contact              Jennifer Thé

                                phone# (302) 738-3020

                                email:  jdthe99@yahoo.com

 

What is Odyssey of the Mind?

Odyssey of the Mind (OotM) is the largest worldwide creative problem-solving competition for children.  Teams of seven kids apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. Then they perform their solutions in regional, state and world competitions.

 

What skills are required to participate in OotM?

Imagination, hard-work and team-work.

 

What is involved? 

A lot of time and effort…...and a lot of parental support.   You’ll be working on this project for the next 5-7 months.

 

Where can I get more information? 

        http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/

 

2011-2012 LONG-TERM PROBLEMS

Problem 1: Ooh-Motional Vehicle

The problem requires teams to design, build, and drive a vehicle that will travel a course where it will encounter three different situations. The vehicle will display a different human emotion for each encounter and one will cause it to travel in reverse. The team will create a theme for the presentation that incorporates the vehicle and the different emotions. The emphases will be on the technical risk-taking and creativity of the vehicle's engineering for travel and change of emotional appearance.

Cost limit: $145 USD.

Problem 2: Weird Science (Sponsored by NASA)

The team will create and present a performance about a team of scientists on an expedition to uncover the cause of mysterious events. The team will select the location of the expedition from NASA Earth Observatory Photographs to be posted at http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/odysseyofthemind/event_selector.php. The scientists will collect two samples and will report on their findings. The performance will also include a technical representation of the mysterious events, a moving backdrop that helps portray traveling, and a team-created device that the scientists use on the expedition.

Cost limit: $145 USD.

Problem 3: To Be or Not To Be

In this Classics problem, teams will put a musical theatre spin on one of William Shakespeare's most famous lines: "To Be Or Not To Be." Hamlet, the title character, ponders this question and realizes that the easy way out is not always the correct choice. An original "Hamlet" character will face a team-created dilemma. Unlike Shakespeare's Hamlet, the team's character will take the easy way out only to discover that it was the wrong choice. Teams will also incorporate a character that portrays Hamlet's conscience, a creative scene change, a creative costume change, and use of a "trap door." A portion of the performance will include musical theatre elements.

Cost limit: $125 USD.

Problem 4: You Make the Call

For this problem, teams will design and build a structure made of only balsa wood and glue that will balance and support as much weight as possible. The structure may have a maximum weight of 9 grams and will receive 2 times the weight held, or 12 grams and receive 1 ½ times the weight held, or 15 grams and receive the actual weight held. The testing of the structure will be presented in a performance that includes mathematics in its theme.

Cost limit: $145 USD.

Problem 5: Odyssey Angels

The team will create and present a performance where a group of students travel throughout one or more team-created places where they encounter negative situations. These “Odyssey Angels” change what they find and turn them into positive situations. On their journey, they help two individuals with different problems and help save an entire community from a bad situation. One Odyssey Angel cannot speak, and another has a special team-created power.

Cost limit: $125 USD.