Congratulations to Mt. Diablo Elementary’s Odyssey of the Mind team who just won the state competition on March 26 for the 3rd-5th grade division. They will be advancing to World Finals May 25-28 at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
The competition is a thinking outside of the box challenge. Teams are given a choice of challenges of different disciplines: Technical/engineering, classical (literature), or performance.
The seven all-girl team chose performance with the theme, Life is a Circus. The task was to perform three circus acts with imaginary animals in an eight-minute skit. Sound easy? They had to brainstorm and perform a story plot, the circus acts, the imaginary animals, build costumes for the animals, design and build a set. They were limited to a maximum budget of $125.
The team came up with a candy-themed circus. “One of the animals imagined was a cotton candy animal,” said team coach Renee Culp. “She glued cotton balls all over her body.” Another animal was a red and black winged licorice villain. Acts included tightrope walking, juggling, balloons and Tic Tacs stunts.
Odyssey of the Mind (OM™) teaches students how to develop and use their natural creativity to become problem solvers. OM also emphasizes teamwork, budgeting, time management, public speaking, and so much more.
Congratulations! Good Luck in Iowa!
Photo: L-R: Odyssey Coach Renee – Culp/5th Grade Teacher, Bailey McNeel – Caird, Kiera Caldwell, Hannah Laverick, Emma Forrester, Avica Bennett, Charlotte King, Carly Grover