Cape district sends four teams to Odyssey of the Mind world competition

Four of nine Odyssey of the Mind teams from Cape Henlopen School District advanced to the world competition at Michigan State University May 24-26. One team was from the high school, one was from Milton Elementary, and two were from Richard A. Shields Elementary. Each team placed at the regional and state levels to advance to worlds.

According the the Odyssey of the Mind website, more than 850 teams from all around the world share their ideas and work in the creative extravaganza that is the world competition. While only a few leave with a trophy, everyone comes out a winner just by solving an Odyssey of the Mind problem and competing on the world stage.

There are two components to an Odyssey competition. First, each team must present a solution to a problem that includes many components. Teams are not allowed to accept outside help, so team members are responsible for creating costumes, designing a set, writing the script and then performing the presentation for a panel of judges.

The second part of the competition is the spontaneous portion. Judges present the teams with a problem that can be solved on the spot with creative and critical thinking. The spontaneous questions can involve building structures, storytelling and a variety of other challenges.

The high school team placed eighth in the world and won prestigious special awards at both the regional and state competitions. The students honed their skit in between competitions. They spent thousands of hours working on intricate and elaborate sets and costumes. The team members are excited about their future; in fact, only two of the members are graduating, so the team is already in preparation for next year's competition.

High school competitor Nikita Patel said, "This was a big step up from last year, and our goal is to be in the top 10 again next year. We are also excited because Odyssey of the Mind is growing in popularity at Cape."

The two Shields teams that advanced to worlds had many seasoned members participate this year. The team that tackled the balsa wood challenge has competed together for three years and advanced to worlds three years in a row. Their skit involved building a tower to see how much weight it could hold. This team logged over 600 hours planning for the competition.

For this team, Odyssey of the Mind is part of their family history. Some of their parents had also competed in Odyssey of the Mind as students in the Cape Henlopen School District. The Shields teammates enjoy trading keepsakes with other teams at the competition. When asked what their favorite experience at the world competition was, fifth-grader Aidin Block expressed his love of trading shirts with teams from other countries. Teammate Dylan Baker was excited that their team beat their longtime rivals at worlds by one point.

The second Shields team that competed at worlds had three students who competed before, and several new contestants. They tackled the problem which involved building a robot that was able to complete multiple tasks. The team enjoyed their experience and loved all of the activities that worlds provided.

The fourth and final team that represented the Cape Henlopen School District was from Milton Elementary School. The participants and coaches were all new to the Odyssey of the Mind experience. This team tackled the same problem the high school team did, which involved time travel and classic artists. The team was thrilled to tie for first place in the Ocean Region. In fact, the Milton team had a perfect score in the spontaneous part of the contest in both regionals and states. The world competition seemed like a huge rock concert or sporting event to team members, and they loved being a part of the experience. They are hoping to compete as a team again in middle school.

All the Odyssey of the Mind teams expressed their appreciation for Cape Odyssey of the Mind Coordinator Cheryl Baldwin's assistance and support throughout the competition. In addition, all are grateful to Schell Brothers, which generously provided a truck to transport props and sets to and from the airport.