Odyssey of the Mind team performs well, has fun at World Finals competition

The fifth-graders competed against 50 teams from around the world, became friends with their buddy team from Singapore and participated in a variety of other fun activities.

Finishing in ninth place might sound disappointing, but that wasn't the case at all for Voorheesville Elementary School's Odyssey of the Mind team, which recently competed in the 29th annual World Finals tournament.

This year's Odyssey tournament was the largest ever, attracting 850 teams from around the world, which meant the competition was stiff and abundant. There were 50 other teams in Voorheesville's division, so finishing ninth was a success as far as team members were concerned.

"I was surprised at first [that the team did so well] because it was our first time there," said fifth-grader Ben Mackay, who credited the team's success to the fact that, "we work well together and we're good friends."

Mackay's teammates are Matt Feller, Wolfie Gehring, Braeden Morrison, Sarah Murray, Lydia Parker and Alex Relyea. Jean Mackay is the coach.

(The photo above is of the Voorheesville team and its buddy team from Singapore.)

In general, team members felt the performance went well, with a few small mistakes.

The team earned a spot in the World Finals tournament by finishing second in the New York State competition in March. The team wrote, designed costumes for and staged a performance in which Greek muses inspired the famous painter Vincent Van Gogh.

The team documented its trip on a Web page, complete with pictures and descriptions of the competition and other activities. To view the Web page, visit www.whereismind.blogspot.com.

To view previous stories about the Odyssey team, visit the News Archives page and see the March and April sections.

This was the first time a Voorheesville team made it to the World Finals. However, Voorheesville students have been active and successful in local Odyssey competitions for many years, and the school district's program attracts dozens of students annually. This year, more than 60 students joined to form nine teams.

The World Finals tournament was held at the University of Maryland in College Park, from May 31 - June 3, and it attracted teams from more than a dozen countries, including China, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Germany, Poland, Canada and the United States.

The international flavor of the competition was exciting for many Voorheesville students.

"Being able to talk to people from so many different parts of the world was a lot of fun," said Sarah Murray.

The Voorheesville students were especially excited because they were chosen to be an “international buddy team,” which meant they were paired with an elementary school team from Singapore. As buddy teams, the Voorheesville and Singapore students spent time together, sharing meals and getting to know each other. The teams exchanged team shirts as gifts, and the Singapore team gave Voorheesville studentspins and key chains, while the Voorheesville team gave Singapore students American flags and a scrapbook about their team, community and school.

Although the tournament was the focus of the trip, the students took full advantage of other activities that were available. For example, the students traveled to Washington, D.C. one day to visit several Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo.

Scott Murray, Sarah's father, teaches fifth-grade at Voorheesville Elementary and traveled to Maryland with the team. He was pleased to hear that students seemed to have just as much fun, if not more fun, meeting other students than they did participating in the tournament.

"I'm sure they all would have liked to come in first or second, but that wasn't the focus once they got there. Every part of it was a great experience for them and it's something they will remember for the rest of their lives," he said.

Odyssey of the Mind is an international, problem-solving competition for students in kindergarten through college. Students use creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. Each team's solution is judged for its creativity and risk-taking.

Through the competition, students learn use creativity to solve problems and learn to manage time and money, share ideas and negotiate with one another and perform in front of an audience. The problems allow teams to develop divergent solutions, so students are able to incorporate their knowledge of traditional educational subjects, such as math, literature, history, art, music and science, as well as their unique interests in subjects such as acrobatics, athletics, robotics and anything else they can imagine and enjoy.