Odyssey of the Mind

Esox

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Any forumers or forumettes ever hear of this competition? My daughter is on a seven girl team, and tomorrow is their state competition. It's cool academic competition where teams of middle and high school kids are assigned a problem that they have to solve using science and performance. The problem is solved in conjunction with a skit. They write their own scripts, build their own sets, and use their skills to solve the problem(s) within the boundaries of the performance. Mrs. Esox and another mom are the coaches. The kids have been meeting once or twice a month since December, and tomorrow is their big day.

Their problem does not require much science this year, but they have to defend a food group. My daughter plays a candy store owning Jelly Belly jelly bean, all the characters in the skit world are foods, who is put on trial for being unhealthy. I'm not explaining this well, but the girls wrote a hilarious sketch based on a reality/Judge Judy type of program. The trial is broken up by commercial spoofs. Characters they have created include Broccoli Spears, Okra, Dr. Dill, and Judge Foodie, who is a churro from Mexico. They candy store set has pictures on the wall of such famous celebrities as Jennifer Cantalopez, Brad Cherry Pit, and Miley Citrus. It's a little disjointed, but funny as hell.

They are competing against six other teams, and if they finish in the top two they get to compete in the world championships at Michigan State in May.

Anyhooo, give a good luck shout to Jr. Lancer and her Odyssey of the Mind teammates. The girls and coaches have worked really hard, and I hope they do well.

Odyssey of the Mind -- Home Page

Kevin
 
I'd heard of this but never really knew much about it. Good luck to Junior Lancer and her teammates!

Forumette? Really?
 
That sounds like an awesome event! I've never heard of it before. I only wish I was creative enough to do something like this. Alas, I'm only a practical scientist.

Good luck Jr. Lancer and fellow teammates! I hope they have a blast and come away with a W.
 
I was in OotM when I was in middle school and high school, always had a fun time with it. It was a great experience, met some great friends and it looked nice on college applications too.

Hope your daughter enjoys it and good luck to her and her team!
 
Jennifer Cantalopez... :laughing:

Good luck to your daughter! Sounds like a fun skit to watch!
 
Good luck to them.

Sounds like they are pretty creative. I like the names. Very good play on's.

Let us know how she does.
 
Many schools in our school district have it. I was on a team for a little while but dropped out due to time constraint. It seemed to be a cool experience. All my friends have a ball with it....
 
Good luck Jr. Lancer and her Odyssey of the Mind teammates. This sounds great and I'm sure that a sample of dads wisdom, yet humor will carry you far. Go get'um.
 
I had a stepson involved in it somewhere in my distant past. I wasn't heavily involved, but his Mom was a teacher and they spent a lot of time conspiring about the competition. It looked like they had fun doing it.
 
Best of luck to her!!

I did OM back when I was in middle school one year (ours was a Rube Goldberg device, not just a skit), and we won state (WV) and went to the World's which was in Boulder, CO that year.

If hers is anything like ours was, it is an amazing amount of work put in for what in the ends becomes 5-10 minutes of competition. Definitely a great competition and a great expression of creativity.
 
State Champs! They're going to "Worlds" at Michigan State in May. They were first out of 9 teams in their group. And they did it one performer short as one of the girls has been battling a mysterious internal illness, and could not compete. A couple of the girls memorized her lines and it went off beautifully.

A great day for the family.

Kevin
 
Congrats to your daughter and her team, that's awesome.:clapp:

Keep us updated when they go to Worlds.
 
Congrats!!! Worlds is a blast. Just make sure they get some (ok a bunch) of cool pins to trade. That is one of the big activities...or at least it was when I went (ahem) 18 years ago :act-up:
 
Congrats!!! Worlds is a blast. Just make sure they get some (ok a bunch) of cool pins to trade. That is one of the big activities...or at least it was when I went (ahem) 18 years ago :act-up:

Trading pins is still huge. Seven out of eight teams from my Daughter's middle school and future high school made it to Worlds There's a couple other districts from around the state that have traditionally dominated, but today it was like Titanic at the Oscars for our two schools.

Kevin
 
State Champs! They're going to "Worlds" at Michigan State in May. They were first out of 9 teams in their group. And they did it one performer short as one of the girls has been battling a mysterious internal illness, and could not compete. A couple of the girls memorized her lines and it went off beautifully.

A great day for the family.

Kevin

How wonderful, Kevin! Did you by chance take headless photos you can post?
 
How wonderful, Kevin! Did you by chance take headless photos you can post?

Didn't think of that, unfortunately. Boy, she's still all pumped up today, but she made her Daddy happy when around 5:00 she said, "I want to go hit some golf balls."

Kevin
 
Didn't think of that, unfortunately. Boy, she's still all pumped up today, but she made her Daddy happy when around 5:00 she said, "I want to go hit some golf balls."

Kevin

Absolutely--how could she not?
 
One of the teams from our school is going to WORLD as well.
 
I did OM when I was in 4th grade (14 years ago). Our subject was something involving a sunken ship and Poseiden ( I was Poseiden, sporting a blue wig and all). Congrats on the advancement.

Not to hijack, but has anybody ever heard of National History Day? If your kid likes OM, History Day could be another good venture. I judge, and have been involved here in Ohio since 1999, so if you are interested, I could point you in the right direction. I still have my hat with pins from all over the country from History Day Nationals in 2000.
 
We're off to East Lansing, MI tomorrow, home of the Spartans, for the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals. I'm driving four 13 year olds with Mrs. Esox riding shotgun. The other three are in another car. The girls are really excited. Their long performance is Thursday afternoon, and their improv performance is early Friday morning. It's a total of about 15 minutes, the rest of the four days they get to play.

Kevin
 
The people from my school left today. I have a friend in Michigan right now.
 
I competed in several Odyssey of the Minds competitions back in the day. As I recall, they are great events and learning experiences. Good luck to you team!
 
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