Back home after a journey to Michigan to compete in the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals, a team of students representing Windham has a lot to be proud of and created plenty of memories to last a lifetime.
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| Windham's Odyssey of the Mind team competed in the World Finals at Michigan State University on May 24. From left are Fynnleigh Mayo, Celia Johnson, Ava Rhoads, Colin Miller, Cora Miller, Marin Miele, Bryn Johnson and Coach Rebecca Miller. SUBMITTED PHOTO |
Team members included Fynnleigh Mayo, Colin Miller, Ava Rhoads, Cora Miller, Marin Miele, Celia Johnson, and Bryn Johnson. Rebecca Miller served as Windham’s Odyssey of the Mind coach.
Windham had qualified to compete in the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals after winning the Nor’easter Tournament at Sanford High School in April and participating in the world championships was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for these children, said Coach Miller.
“They got to see how other teams work to solve the problems and get ideas and experience to use and learn from for the future,” Miller said.
Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem-solving program where team members present their solution at a competition to a predefined long-term problem that takes many months to complete and involves writing, design, construction, and theatrical performance. The Odyssey of the Mind competition was born out of the innovative teachings of its founder, Dr. C. Samuel Micklus at Rowan University in New Jersey. He challenged his industrial design students to use their creativity to solve unique problems like building a vehicle without wheels.
Micklus then created problems for middle and high schools in New Jersey and the first-ever Odyssey of the Mind competition was held in 1978. The World Finals now includes teams from as far away as China, Germany, Mexico, India, and Canada with 22,000 people including participants, parents, coaches, and volunteers attending, proving that creative thinking is universal, and that Odyssey of the Mind is a positive force that brings them together.
Miller said that in Michigan at the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals, the competition involved an eight-minute skit, making props to use with the skit and then coming up with lines to perform during the skit.
“This is entirely student focused. My only job is to help them organize themselves,” Miller said. “It's truly real-time problem solving. When they can't agree on something they have to make a plan. When an idea fails, they have to change it up. When they create something that keeps falling apart, they need to adjust. It's truly real-world skills that are practiced repeatedly. These kids truly foster their teamwork, creativity, flat problem solving, public speaking, engineering, conflict resolution strategies and real-world skills that we ultimately want them to demonstrate before they graduate high school so they can be productive citizens.”
She said that the community should take pride in what this group of students was able to accomplish.
“Our community stepped up to support these children and they had the best weekend of their lives,” Miller said. “They met people from all over the world, competed in a division with 67 other teams and got 23rd place. They did exceptional, thank you again for all the support.”
While in Michigan, team members and their families were also able to attend a performance of “Wicked, the musical” at Michigan State University. <
Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem-solving program where team members present their solution at a competition to a predefined long-term problem that takes many months to complete and involves writing, design, construction, and theatrical performance. The Odyssey of the Mind competition was born out of the innovative teachings of its founder, Dr. C. Samuel Micklus at Rowan University in New Jersey. He challenged his industrial design students to use their creativity to solve unique problems like building a vehicle without wheels.
Micklus then created problems for middle and high schools in New Jersey and the first-ever Odyssey of the Mind competition was held in 1978. The World Finals now includes teams from as far away as China, Germany, Mexico, India, and Canada with 22,000 people including participants, parents, coaches, and volunteers attending, proving that creative thinking is universal, and that Odyssey of the Mind is a positive force that brings them together.
Miller said that in Michigan at the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals, the competition involved an eight-minute skit, making props to use with the skit and then coming up with lines to perform during the skit.
“This is entirely student focused. My only job is to help them organize themselves,” Miller said. “It's truly real-time problem solving. When they can't agree on something they have to make a plan. When an idea fails, they have to change it up. When they create something that keeps falling apart, they need to adjust. It's truly real-world skills that are practiced repeatedly. These kids truly foster their teamwork, creativity, flat problem solving, public speaking, engineering, conflict resolution strategies and real-world skills that we ultimately want them to demonstrate before they graduate high school so they can be productive citizens.”
She said that the community should take pride in what this group of students was able to accomplish.
“Our community stepped up to support these children and they had the best weekend of their lives,” Miller said. “They met people from all over the world, competed in a division with 67 other teams and got 23rd place. They did exceptional, thank you again for all the support.”
While in Michigan, team members and their families were also able to attend a performance of “Wicked, the musical” at Michigan State University. <
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