Three Odyssey of the Mind Teams Advance to State Competition

Odyssey of the Mind teams from Douglas MacArthur Elementary School, Mount Vernon Community School and T.C. Williams High School will advance to the state finals on April 14 at Menchville High School in Newport News. Each parent-coached team placed first in its category in the Region 11 Competition held on Saturday, March 31.

The MacArthur team earned 318.66 points to come in first in the Division 1A "Ooh-Motional Vehicle" category. The Mount Vernon team's 334.36 points earned the group first place in the Division 1B "Odyssey Angels" category. T.C Williams achieved the top award in the Division III "To Be or Not To Be" competition by earning a score of 336.12 points.

The international Odyssey of the Mind program features creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Team members think creatively, with no hands-on help from adults, to solve problems that range from constructing mechanical devices to presenting original interpretations of literary classics. MacArthur's team, for instance, had to design, build and drive a vehicle that was capable of traveling a course and navigating three different situations. The vehicle had to display a different human emotion at each encounter, and one of the emotions had to cause it to travel in reverse. The team created an original theme for the presentation as well.

Thousands of teams from throughout the United States and about 25 other countries participate at the local, state and world levels of the competition. A complete listing of scores is available at http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/competitions/2012/10333_scores_menu.html. Information on the state finals can be found at http://www.vaodyssey.org. Details about the Odyssey of the Mind program can be found at http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/whatis.php.