SSA+S Odyssey of the Mind
Team Places 13th
IN THE WORLD!
With 45 teams representing schools from
all over the United States, Europe, Asia, and Central America, our
outstanding SSA+S Odyssey of the Mind team earned an impressive 13th
place at the International OM Competition at Michigan State
University on May 30.
Our team beat schools from Singapore,
Poland, South Korea, Mexico, and Canada, as well as schools from
Houston, Texas, Flagstaff, Arizona, and Wilmington, Delaware.
The team faced a devastating setback
when its’ main balsa wood structure was destroyed by the airport
security X-ray machine while en route to Michigan. Last minute
efforts were made to rebuild the structure, but time limitations
prevented successful completion of this task. Fortunately, the
team had a back-up structure, so the team was still able to
compete in spite of its setback.
During the Spontaneous part of the
competition, the team was given a problem that required quick and
creative thinking and only five minutes to come up with a
solution. The team scored extremely well. The performance
component of the competition required the team to present an
original skit which had been written by the team in which the set,
costumes, and props were designed and built exclusively by team
members without any adult assistance. This was another area in
which our SSA+S team excelled.
At the end of the day, the SSA+S OM
team proved once again that we excel when it comes to creative
problem-solving. Many thanks to team members Mallory Robinson,
Haley Simmons, Iris Lopez, Jessica Zangara-Hinman, Will Friend,
and Stephen Cole for their year of hard work and dedication. A
special thank you to Ms. Susan Skedel, the fearless leader of this
group.
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